Emotionless
by Xxmooses123xX
Summary: After living a hard life Marissa joins Prince Zuko and Iroh. Will this be the turn around in her life that she needs? First story. Zuko X OC
1. Chapter 1

**My first story enjoy. This takes place in the Southern Air Temple.**

"_Mother please, I'm sorry!" I yell._

"_No you're not. You disrespected the Fire Nation and the Fire lord's favorite general that was me!" She said with such anger in her voice._

_I could feel tears burn my hazel eyes. I refused to let them fall. _

"_I'm sorry! I won't ever do it again!" _

"_Why do you love your own father more than me?" She said with such anger and hurt. "You would rather spend time with him in the Southern Water Tribe then me! With the Fire Nation! I thought you loved it here."_

_I looked away. Then I spoke again._

"_I did. Now I don't." I never knew what a terrible mother you were. You think your job is more important than me. You don't care about me. You just care about power. That's all you want. Why would you want a child to get in your way? I said that with such venom in my voice I could tell the poison was working on my mom. _

"_You know what Marissa? You're going to pay for this whether you like it or not!"_

_Then she grabbed my hand and dragged me outside to the back yard. It was a beautiful place. It had a pond and a lone single cherry blossom tree that I would sit under. I always thought it was peaceful until now. My mom was angry I could tell. Just then quick as a flash I felt like I was on fire, right on my left shoulder. I yelled. _

"_Keep quiet or I'll kill you." She hissed._

_The burning feeling was gone on my shoulder but, it moved towards my arm and it kept going, like an ocean. Then when she got to elbow it stopped. I fell to the ground, crying. I looked up at my mother. Her dark amber eyes looked at me with such hate._

"_I told you, you would pay." She sneered. "Oh by the way I'm sending you back with your father. I'm sure you'll like it better there, in a cold barren poor wasteland. _

I woke up with a start. I was 15 and, I was 11 when that happened. I still wondered why I still get that nightmare. I shook my head. My brown hair fell in my face. I knew that I needed my rest for tomorrow so I forced myself to sleep.

_It was about two years after my mother sent me to the Southern Water Tribe. Life was good here, way better then Fire Nation life. Even though I didn't have my mother my father taught my lots of things. He taught mostly guy things like how to fish, ice dodge, and how to skin animals. I even discovered I was a water bender! When I wasn't helping my dad with something I would practice water bending. I even helped a girl named Katara. She wasn't the best one but I saw potential in her to become a master. I also played with the other children such as Katara's brother Sokka. Sokka was a really annoying kid but, he was really funny and, he was the only kid around my age. But the happiness would soon fade. In the dead of winter I woke up in the middle of the night. I looked at my father's bed but, it was empty._

"_Dad?" I said ._

_No response. I began to get worried. I knew he got up early but, never this early. I went outside the tent. It was pitch black and snowing hard so, I made some fire. Just then I saw footprints. I followed them but I soon realized they were going towards the tundra. One place children were forbidden to go. I thought long and hard and I soon was following the tracks once more. When the tracks ended I was dumbfounded. I looked around for him but, all I saw were snowflakes hitting the ground._

"_Dad! Where are you?" I yelled. The only thing that answered me was the wind. I feel to my knees but instead of hitting the snow I hit something hard. My eyes widened and I started digging. I almost cried when I found what was buried under the snow. It was my father, burned badly._

"_Dad!"I shook him." Wake up….dad" No response. Then it hit me. He was dead. The tears fell heavy. It was worse than when I got burned. As I got up I looked at my dad one more time. I looked like him more than my mother. _ _I had his hair color and more of his eye color. The only thing I had from my mom was the Fire Nation pale skin color. _

"_Dad, I'll miss you."_

I woke up again in my cell. I knew I was crying again. I felt a hot warm tear fall off and land on the ground. I sat there in silence. Then something interrupted my silence. I looked up and saw a Fire Nation guard before me.

"Come on peasant. You ready for your big day?" He laughed.

He hand cuffed me and lead me out of the dark unforgiving cell. My black pants were dirty from sitting and lying on the floor. My shirt was dirty too. It was black and it went down to my elbows to cover my scar. We got above deck on the ship. I looked at the sky, something I didn't see in what seems forever. But I know today wasn't going to be peaceful. After my dad died I returned to the Fire Nation. My mother was still general and we still haven't made up from our fight many years ago. One night she came up to me and asked why I still hated her. I didn't say anything. She slapped me and challenged me to an Agni Kai. She said I needed to learn respect considering she was one of the best generals. I saw the ocean. _Water. _Even though water benders usually bend with their hands I could sort of bend with my feet. I filled up my two water pouches; one on my waste one on my ankle, covered by my sort of baggy clothing.

When I got to the place where the Agni Kai was held I saw someone was already in it. Two guys were fighting.

"Remember Prince Zuko, Basics!" I heard a man say.

Prince Zuko… I've heard that name before I just don't know where. Just as we got there the fight seemed to end. The younger boy the one with the high pony tail won. As they were leaving the guard that was leading me told the old man and the young boy to stop.

"We don't have time for this." Said the younger one.

"Prince Zuko where are your manners?" Said the older chubbier one.

"You to have to stay. You might have someone join your group." My guard said.

He brought me forward so I could see them. The one with the pony tail had a scar on the left side of his face.

_It's just like mine._ I thought

I quickly looked away having my hair that went past the shoulders cover my face. I looked at the older one. Gray hair, facial hair, chubby nothing interesting.

"Go back in the stadium." My guard said.

The prince was opening his mouth about to say something but the old man interrupted.

"Okay." He said.

They went back into the stadium and my guard and I followed after them. On the other side of the stadium there stood my challenger, my mother. I stared at her for so long I didn't even know the guard un-cuffed me.

"You ready my daughter." I heard my mother sneer.

I felt the stare of the Prince Zuko and the other person that was with him. I didn't care though. I just wanted to show that I could bet my mother. I made sure my water pouch was on my side and down by my ankle. They were. I smirked.

"Bring it mother." I said almost laughing.

She started to send bright orange fiery fireballs at me. I stood still I planned this perfectly. Right before the bright balls of orange and red came at me I redirected them towards her. I smirked. I wasn't a firebender but I could redirect their attacks. She looked at me shocked. She sent more of them towards me but, I swiftly dodged these.

"Fight me! Don't be a coward like you were many years ago!" She yelled.

This time instead of fire balls she sent fire streams and I was ready to redirect them. Just as the first one came the second one seemed to speed up and knock me off my feet causing the one fire stream that I was about to redirect go over my head. She ran up to me with a wicked smile on her face. She grabbed me by my shirt with one hand and started to create a fireball with another. I knew how Agni Kais ended; usually in death. She looked me dead in the eyes.

"I always knew you were weak like your father." She laughed.

My father… I tried not to think of him a lot. The pain pierced through my heart like a knife. Just then like something came over me I bended the water that was in my pouch and whipped the water at her knocking her off balance and, allowing me to get up.

"You're….you're." My mother couldn't seem to get the words out of her mouth. " A waterbender?"

I quickly bended more water out of my pouch and whipped some water and her wrist and ankles, then froze the water to the ground so she couldn't get up.

"Yes I am. And I'm proud of it." I said with pride.

She tried to get out of my bending but she couldn't.

"I can't believe I lost to a _waterbender_, let alone _you_!" She said. I could tell she hated it and I was happy because of that.

" You travel with the banished Prince Zuko and his lame Uncle!" She roared.

"Whatever." I said. I mumbled under my breath "You stupid bitch."

Prince Zuko and his uncle looked at me. The look his uncle gave me was of pure shock.

"I'm uncle Iroh and this is my nephew Prince Zuko!" He held out his hand so I could shake it. I shook it.

"My names Marissa." I smiled. He seemed really nice. I looked at Prince Zuko I was expecting a hand shake out of him but he just gave me a cold hard stare. Then he spoke.

" I can't believe were traveling with a waterbender. Uncle how are you cool with this?" He asked.

His uncle just gave him a stare. "Prince Zuko you must not be rude to our guest."

Prince Zuko didn't say anything he just started walking out the stadium. That's when Iroh turned to me.

"He'll warm up to you, just wait." He said. Then he gave me a smile. I couldn't help to smile back and I followed him out after Zuko.


	2. First day

A/N: **Omg thanks you guys for adding this to your favorites and reviewing : ). It means a whole lot to me. **

Zuko's POV

_I can't believe we are traveling with a water bender! _ I cursed this in my head. I started walking back to my ship and I could have sworn steam was fuming out of my ears.

"Prince Zuko, you should be nice to our new guess." I heard my uncle say.

"Uncle I can't she's a water bender!" I yelled.

"Zuko all the four elements are the same even if they don't seem like it." Uncle said.

I gave him a confused look. "What?" I asked. "That's confusing."

"You'll understand one day." He laughed and walked away, probably to play Pai Sho.

_Uncle I seriously don't understand you at all. _I rolled my eyes.

Marissa's POV

When I got to the ship I thought it would be big, nice, and fit for a prince, but I was terribly wrong. It was puny, small compared to the other ships. I silently laughed. It was sort of a nice ship but I've seen a lot nicer ones. Lastly, this was no ship fit for a prince. This time I laughed out loud.

I saw Zuko look at me. "What are you laughing about?" he said with no emotion.

"Oh, nothing that you need to know about princey." I said keeping my cool.

He looked at me, looked me dead in the eyes. Amber meeting hazel.

"Are you insulting me or my ship?" He asked coldly.

"No. Why would I ever do that?" I said with a bit of sarcasm in my voice.

I swear there was lighting going back and forth between our eyes.

This seemed to last forever until I heard Iroh say "Come Prince Zuko and Marissa. Dinner is ready! Hope I didn't interrupt anything." He laughed and walked below deck.

Zuko started to leave.

"Hey!" I called.

He turned around, "What?"

"I don't know my way around this ship so I suggest you show me where we are eating at your _highness_."

"Fine, follow me." He said.

We went below the deck. Underneath it was dark; the only source of light was torches that were on fire. We continued in complete utter silence. _Well this is awkward._ We took a left down the hall and it was the second room on the left. He opened the door and I saw a lot of men. Other than that I noticed the huge Fire Nation symbol on the back wall. The table was long and wooden.

"Great." I said, not caring if I said that out loud.

Zuko gave me a glare but, I just ignored him.

"Ah Prince Zuko and Marissa you finally made it!" Iroh said.

He pointed to an empty chair on his left, I guess for Zuko and one for me on his right.

I awkwardly sat down next to an older guy, at least in his 30's. Looked like any fire nation guy. Black hair, amber eyes, facial hair.

"My name is Huos. What is your name I may ask? You are very beautiful." He held out his hand. I saw his drink. It was filled with water, _yes._

"Oh my name is…" I never finished the sentence because at that moment I quickly brought all the water from his cup and splashed it on his face.

Zuko looked at me, getting out of his chair. "You don't have to boss my men around."

"Well personally I don't want to be hit on by a 30 year old."

"Both of you calm down, the noodles are soon here." Iroh said.

I crossed my arms. "Yeah Zuko calm down." I rolled my eyes.

He shot me a glare.

I never thought I would ever so happy to see noodles in my life. I dug right into them. For Fire Nation food I thought it was delicious. I felt the stares of the other crew mates but I didn't care one bit. Soon I was finished. The noodles were cooked to perfection.

I wiped my mouth with my napkin. "So, where's dessert?" I asked.

I looked over at Iroh laughing. He put his hand on my shoulders. "I think you and I will be great friends." He smiled I laughed.

Zuko glared at me. It seemed like he had jealousy in his eyes.

I was confused. Why did it seem like that? I pondered my own thoughts. Without saying anything I got up and walked out the door. I went out to the deck. The stars shined and the moon was like a nightlight. I walked over to the railing of the boat. I stared out into to never ending ocean. I was lost in my own thoughts until I heard something. I quickly water bended the water on the side of the boat and sent a whip towards the noise.

"Hey watch it!" the voice said. I saw steam from where he stood.

I felt my eyes go wide. "Zuko?" I went over to him. "Oh my god, I'm so sorry!"

"I'm fine!" He snapped.

He looked me in the eyes again, just like earlier today. I looked at his face. His jet black hair was tied tightly in a pony tail, his amber eyes like gold, perfect expect for one thing…that scar covering his left side of his face. I felt my face get hot like fire, I looked away.

I heard him clear his throat. _I wonder if he was blushing too. _

"So….um…. I'm guessing you're tired. Come with so I can show you your room.

He led me below deck again but instead of going left towards where we ate we went right. It was still silent between us. It was still a bit awkward but not as awkward as before. We kept walking down the hall until we got to the very last door on the right. He opened the door. I looked at the room. It was a very simple room. There was a bed in the left corner in the room covered in red and black comforter with the Fire nation symbol on it. I looked to the right side and it had a small wooden desk and, a small chair to go along with it. Next to it was a little black dresser. It wasn't the greatest room in the whole world but, way better then what I had to live in before.

I turned around to look at Zuko. I saw he was scratching his head like he was nervous.

"So, do you like it?" He asked.

"Yeah it's nice, thanks." I smiled. Then I noticed a door hidden by the bed.

"Hey what's that door for back there?" I asked and pointed to the door.

"Oh that." He started to say "Is your own bathroom."

"Okay, just wondering. You know you didn't have to get me a room with its very own bathroom." I said

"It was my uncle's idea… Since you're the only girl on the ship he thought you shouldn't have to share with guys."

"Well that makes sense. Well I appreciate it. Thanks Zuko."

"Yeah no problem. He said kind of nervously. "Well I'm going to bed I got to train tomorrow."

"Okay, night." I said

"Night." He said as he walked down the hall.

I closed the door when he was out of sight. _Why was he acting really nervous? Does he like me? Why did I blush when we were close? Do __**I **__like him?_ I sighed. My eyelids felt heavy for all the day events. I walked over to the dresser and I was surprised there were some clothes in it. I picked a baggy black plain shirt and blood red pants. _Ugh Fire nation clothes. _I changed and I was slowly making my way to the bed. My feet drug across the cold hard floor, as soon as I got to the bed I got under the cozy covers and then after that everything went black.

**A/N: Huos means fire. Anyways thanks to **monkeybait and Chicagobender31 for adding this to their favorites. And thank you DerekSouza'sBFF for reviewing this story : )


	3. AvatarAlive?

**A/N: Ah guys I love you! Got another review and two more favorites on this story! Thank you! School for me starts September 6****th**** so. **

I slowly opened my eyes. I had no idea what time it was and I really didn't care one bit. I slowly drug my feet out of the nice cozy covers and put them on the ground. I sat up and rubbed my eyes. Then I, ever so slowly made my way to the dresser to pick out my clothes today. After picking out my clothes I went to the bathroom to take a shower and to see what the clothes I picked out would look on me. I choose a black vest with red trimming and a pitch black long sleeved shirt to go under it. For pants I wore jet black pants that were not too tight or too big. _Yay, Fire Nation clothing. _I thought sarcastically. I walked out of my room somehow remembering how to get to the deck of the ship. The sun was shining bright so I guessed I woke up around noon.

"Ah, Marissa you're finally up!" I turned around to see Iroh.

"Oh, haha yeah."

"So how did you sleep?" He asked

"Good. The bed was really comfortable." I smiled.

"Well that's good." He said.

"What are we doing today?" I asked.

"I don't know. I do not command this ship. Probably finding out where the avatar is."

I could feel my eyes get wide and my jaw drop. "But the avatar has been dead for 100 years!"

Iroh laughed. " Well he is alive now. Don't tell anyone or you will get Prince Zuko mad."

I smiled. "I can think I can handle him."

I saw Iroh's eyes light up for a second I didn't know why until I heard "Prince Zuko, finally!"

I turned around to see the prince himself.

"Uncle." He said looking at Iroh. Then he turned to me. "Marissa. What are you guys talking about?"

"The one that you're after princey." I said.

I looked at Zuko. His amber eyes were full of anger. "You were talking about the avatar without me?"

I nervously rubbed my neck "Uh…..yeah…." I looked at the ground.

"Prince Zuko she simply wanted to know why were on this ship, that's all." Iroh said calmly. _Thank god for Iroh._

I breathed a sigh of relief. I looked up at Prince Zuko again. It looked like he wasn't mad anymore but you never know with him.

"I'm going to the command tower to see where we are going." The prince said. I watched him walk away, I sighed. I then turned to Iroh.

"Your nephew is so confusing." I said.

Iroh laughed. "Oh I know, but once you get to know him better he is extremely easy to read." He then smiled. It was like his smile was a disease and I caught the sickness, I couldn't help but smile back.

~Page-break~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

It was getting dark again and a little bit chilly. The wind seemed to howl and there wasn't a moon out tonight. I went underneath earlier then last night. I was going to go straight to my room until I heard Iroh and Prince Zuko talking.

"The only reason you should be interrupting me is if you have news about the avatar." I heard the Prince say.

"Well," I heard Iroh say. "There is news Prince Zuko but you might not like it, don't get to upset."

"Uncle, you taught me keeping a leveled head is a sign of a great leader, now whatever you have to say I'm sure I can take it. "

"Okay then, we have no idea where he is." Iroh said calmly like he always does.

"What?" I heard Zuko roar this. I saw a bright orange glow coming from where the room was.

Then I heard Iroh spoke. "You should really open a window in here." I silently laughed.

"Give me the map."

"There has been multiple sightings of the avatar but, he is impossible to track down."

"How am I suppose to find him uncle?" I heard worry in Zuko's voice. "He's clearly a master of evasive maneuvering."

"Zuko, you will find him soon. I promise."

I saw Iroh coming towards me so acting like I just came down the hall I started walking. When I walked by him he said goodnight as I made my way to my room. As soon as I got to my room I jumped towards the bed. Nothing really exiting happened today. _I wonder what will happen tomorrow. _I asked myself. I then walked over to my dresser to put on the same pj's I had on last night. I then went to my bed. I loved sleep and all like any other teenager but I wasn't tired one bit. I tossed and turned but I still couldn't fall asleep.

"Hell with this." I said. I got out of my bed and went towards the door. _Let's explore the ship, shall we?_ I knew where Zuko's room was so I dare not go explore _that _part of the ship. I went towards where we ate that one night. _Ok the kitchen can't be too far from where we eat. _I checked the room right across from it. It was filled with weapons. _Eh no. Ok kitchen come out, come out where ever you are. _I checked the room right next to the dining room. _Bingo. _I found what I was looking for. Now to find what I need in here. I searched for it on the counters, I searched for it by the food, and then I checked to drawers. _Finally._ I got what I was looking for… a knife, one that's not to sharp but not too dull. I put it underneath my clothes. I slowly made my way out of the kitchen not wanting to get caught. I fast walked towards my bedroom, _almost there!_ But I rammed into something.

"Hey watch it!" It was Zuko.

"Oh hey Zuko… I'm just going to bed. Don't mind me!" I said nervously.

I could feel Zuko looking at me. My face began to feel hot. Thank god it was too dark for him to see it.

"Why are you rooming around my ship?" He asked me. A little bit of anger filled his voice.

" I couldn't sleep so…I…uh… was just walking around the ship." _Well it wasn't a complete lie. _

"Just don't do that again, you might just run into where we keep the komodo rhinos at."

I gulped. _What were komodo rhinos?_ "I promise I won't do it again."

I continued fast walking to my room. When I got there I closed the door shut and breathed a heavy sigh of relief. I then took the knife out of underneath my clothing. I went to the bathroom and put my left wrist on the counter top and the knife was in my right hand. I took the knife and slowly dug it into my skin until I saw blood. I then moved it about an inch and stopped. The cut was never too deep; just right. Dark crimson blood was erupting from I cut myself. I put the knife down and turned the water on. I placed my hand underneath to wash the cut and to erase the blood. Then I saw something glow a bright icy blue. It was right where I had just cut myself minutes ago. Then the glow disappeared. I looked where I cut myself and the cut was gone. I smiled. Only a few gifted waterbenders had the ability to heal, and I was one of them. I cleaned off the knife and placed it back on the counter top. I went out of the bathroom and went towards my bed. I smiled as I dozed off to dream land.

**A/N: Yeah I made my character cut herself. Now people please don't cut yourself. Not worth it. Later it will be revealed why she did that. Anyways big thanks to **FullMetalSoulReaper, toph123412, nicky1222, for adding this story to their favorites. Thank you nicky1222 and FullMetalSoulReaper for reviewing this story. And thank you and FullMetalSoulReaper for adding me to your favorite author's list. Thanks a bunch you guys!


	4. Kyoshi

**A/N: Oh my goodness more reviews? You guys are the greatest. =)**

Today I woke up like any normal day. I checked my wrist where I cut it last night. The mark wasn't there at all, not a single trace of it. I smiled. I put on the same clothes I had on yesterday and I put my dark brown thick hair in a ponytail. I walked out of my room happy for some reason. The last time I was this happy is when I was in the Southern Water Tribe. I quickly shook that thought out of my mind. I went up the deck and the sun was shining bright, it was almost blinding. I breathed in a breath of fresh air.

"Ahh…" I said.

"Gee you're in an awfully good mood." I heard someone say. I jumped at the sound of this. I turned around to see Zuko.

"You're in an awfully good mood yourself." I said full of sarcasm.

I heard Zuko growl. "Can you say anything without sarcasm?" He asked.

I shot a glare at him. "I can I just choose not to." I smiled. I looked over at Zuko. I saw his amber eyes roll. I had to laugh at this. I sensed Zuko looking at me with a 'what the hell' stare but I didn't care.

"So princey." I said picking at my fingernails that have grown long. "What are we doing today?"

"Hopefully getting some news on where the avatar is at."

I rolled my eyes. "Shocker."

I heard Zuko go ugh and walk away. I silently laughed. I hate to say but I enjoy talking to the prince.

Later in the day I became extremely bored. I went back to my room and was just lying on the bed. I heard dinner was going to be done soon and it was going to be roasted duck. My stomach rumbled at the thought of this. I sat on my bed and sighed. I heard the door creak open to reveal Iroh.

"Dinner is ready. It's just going to be me you and prince Zuko."

I stared at him for a while. _Just me Iroh and Zuko? _I thought that was pretty weird but I wouldn't let it show.

"Where at?" I asked.

"Make a right out of your room and take a left at the hall and it's the first room on your left."

"Ok thanks." I smiled.

I did a quick check in the mirror and I was off. I opened the door to see Iroh and Zuko waiting for me. I sat down across from Zuko, patiently waiting for dinner to get done. When dinner finally came I ate it normally not like last time. I had roasted duck a few times in my life before but not in a while because of living in a cell for what seemed like a life time. In the middle of dinner a guard from the ship came in.

"Prince Zuko the avatar is on Kyoshi Island!" The guard said.

Zuko got up from dinner leaving his roasted duck just sitting there. _Rude much?_

I heard Iroh speak up, "Are you going to finish that?" He asked the prince.

"I was saving it for later." The prince yell. He then took his plate and headed off.

"So.." I was starting to play with my food now. " Does this mean were going to Kyoshi Island? I asked.

"Yep." Iroh said.

_I never been to Kyoshi, I wonder what it's like._

After about two days we made it to Kyoshi. I was standing on the deck the wind playing with my pony tail. I saw Zuko come towards me.

"You're staying on this ship you understand?" He said with no tint of emotion.

"No I don't understand." I snapped. "I want to fight. I'm not a helpless little girl!" I yelled. My hands were already in fist and I was resisting hitting Zuko.

"Look… I don't want you to get hurt." He said quietly. _Wait, he didn't want me to get hurt? That's awfully weird for him._

"I can handle pain, ya know. I don't care if I get a couple scratches on me or if I bleed."

Zuko sighed. "I guess you can come then."

"Yay!" I said a little too loud.

"Come with me." He said. He lead me where the komodo rhinos where. I have to say these things looked nasty. _Just like everything else in the Fire Nation. _I silently laughed at this. Zuko had put his head armor on and armor more around his body. He got up on the rhino and gestured me to get up there with him.

"I'm not getting on _that_ thing." I said.

"You get on this or you're not fighting." He said. I sighed in defeat. He held out his hand and I grabbed it. _It was hot! _I swear I saw him blush too.

"Hold on he said" He lead the other rhinos out with soldiers on their backs. When we got to the banks Zuko announced that he wanted the avatar alive. We made our way to the village and did what the Fire Nation loved to do; burn things to the ground. I got off the rhino. I heard Zuko scream at me because of all the commotion.

"Where are you going?" He yelled.

"I'm going to fight!" I yelled right back at him.

I ran off not caring if I was a waterbender and being on the bad guy side. I heard to people talking. I couldn't make out what they were saying but I decided to interrupt.

"Well, well, well what do we have here?" I sneered.

The one with the auburn hair looked at me getting in her fighting position.

I stood in my normal position. There was snow everywhere and snow was made of water. This girl stood no chance.

"You know it's hard to fight in a dress. You might trip."

She started coming towards me and that's when I brought the snow from between where we stood and turned into a little ice wall so she would trip over it. She tripped over the ice and landed did a face plant.

"Sorry if I messed up your make up." I then turned to the other person she was talking to.

"Stay back. I'm warning you." I was surprised when the voice talked because it was a guy who was in a dress wearing makeup.

"Are you her boyfriend?"

I saw his face get red. "No!" He yelled back.

I brought up snow to wipe the makeup off his face and pin him to the wall. When the makeup was off I was shocked of what I saw. _Tan skin, ice blue eyes dark brown hair…was he from the water tribe?_

"Who are you?" I asked quietly.

"Why would I want to tell you after it seemed like you wanted to kill me?" He yelled.

"Just answer my question." I said with the same voice. "If you don't answer me I will have to kill you."

I heard him gulp at the sound of this. I looked him dead in his icy blue eyes and he was looking back in my hazel ones.

He sighed "My name is Sokka."

_Sokka, I know that name. Hes from the Southern Water Tribe! I wonder if he remembers me. _

"Do you remember a little girl from your tribe that was about your age that lived with her dad?" I asked.

His blue eyes lighted up but then darkened. "I do…but she lives in the Fire Nation now."

"Look at me… Do you not remember me?" I asked him.

His blue eyes were like scanners; scanning every inch of my body. Then something unexpected happened. He hugged me.

"Marissa is that really you?" He said.

"Yeah." I choked out.

"Then explain to me why you're here with Zuko?"

"Long story. I got to go. Tell your sister I said hi." And with that I ran off.

When I got to the village it was like a horror scene. All the wooden houses were on fire and the statue of Avatar Kyoshi was on fire. I saw Zuko in the middle fighting with a boy it seemed. _Was that the avatar? _I realized how good the boy was. He was an airbender which I thought there was no more so then I realized he was the avatar. I couldn't interrupt their fight so I turned to the building next to me which was on fire. _If I can redirect fire I wonder if I can put it out. _ I thought hard on the fire. I breathed in a deep breath brought my hands up to my chest clasped together and when I exhaled I moved my hands down. I opened my eyes not knowing if it would work or not, it did. I smiled. But I knew I couldn't do this alone. There were too many houses, just one of me. I saw Zuko come towards me riding his rhino.

"Get on." He said. "We have to follow the avatar."

We rode on the rhino with the other crew members and followed them to the ocean. Just then a giant creature appeared. It had to be hundreds of feet long with dark brown skin that looked almost black. Behind its eyes there were four bright almost like neon yellow. I looked at its teeth; they were razor sharp and could tear anything to bits. Then it started spraying water all over us. I wasn't mad one bit but I could tell Zuko was. After that we head back to the ship and I put my pj's on right away but still kept my hair up. I was extremely tired from all the day's event so I went to bed early.

_I woke up not knowing if this was a dream. It sure didn't feel like it. I went to the bathroom to get my knife that I used to cut myself about three days ago. I wanted to cut myself again. I cut myself on my left wrist again so I could heal it with water. _

_I turned on the water so it would heal but it never did._

"_This is so strange." I said._

_That's when I looked in the mirror and I was shocked of what I saw._

_It was me._

_Me with cuts._

_Not just on the wrists._

_**Everywhere.**_

_It was on both my arms all the way to my shoulders. My face didn't look too much better I looked paler then before like I was dead. I had black and blue marks around my eyes and my eyes had bags underneath them. Shocked I moved back a bit but then I just saw black and it felt like I was falling. I tried screaming but no one could hear me. It was just me falling into a black abyss. I heard a voice it was my dad's._

"_Why did you do this? Why didn't you protect me? Why did you let me __**die**__?"_

"_I'm sorry. I'm sorry." I kept repeating myself. _

I woke up my breathing was fast and I was sweating like I just ran 100 miles. I heard a knock at the door.

"Come in." I said quietly.

I was surprised when Zuko came in. _Shirtless_

"I heard you screaming. I wanted to make sure you were ok."

"Oh… It was just a bad dream. I'm fine."

"No you're not." He said. "Do you want to talk about it?"

I looked at at him, his amber eyes looking straight into my hazel eyes. I sighed. I told him about me falling and hearing my dad talking but not about him dying. I knew if I told him that I would break down crying. I also didn't tell him about cutting myself.

I felt arms being wrapped around me. _Zuko was hugging me!_

"We all have some pretty bad dreams." He said. "Feel better and go back to sleep. How bout training tomorrow? Just you and I?"

I smiled. "Just a heads up your going to get your ass kicked."

He shot me a glare. I laughed and I could see a little bit of a smile form.

"Good night" He said as he got up and walked away.

"Good night." I said

_Oh my god… What just happened?_

**A/N: Thank you ** FullMetalSoulReaper and nicky122 for reviewing. Thank you Sarah Goodwill and Sailor Sacred Moon for adding this to their favorites. And sailor thanks for adding me to your favorite authors!


	5. Fighting

**A/N: Hey guys! This is going to be my last chapter before I start *gulp* school. So I won't have a whole lot of time do write so please be patient. =)**

Today I woke up happier then ever. What happened between me and Zuko still was fluttering around in my mind. I still smiled when I thought about it. I think he was beginning to really like me; and I think I was starting to like him too. I got out of my bed faster then I ever had because I was ready to train. I changed my elbow length raven black shirt and dark red pants. I went to my bathroom and fixed my ponytail because it was a complete mess. I looked at myself in the mirror. Not a scratch on me. I sighed.

_Thank god. _I walked out of my room almost with a skip in my walk. Happiness was overflowing me; almost like I was drowning. I went on the deck to almost be hit by a fireball. I ducked right in time.

"Hey! Watch it!" I yelled. I scanned the deck to see who would of thrown that at me. My eyes laid on a shirtless Zuko, with a devilish grin on his face. I smiled back. I walked up to him.

"What are you trying to do? Kill me?" I asked.

"No." He said. I looked up at him. He was **smiling. **_Oh my god. _I never saw Zuko smile. He always had a serious look on his face but now it was like he was a different person. His pearl white smile made me smile.

"So ready to get your ass whooped?" I asked still smiling.

"We have to wait for my uncle to get up here to judge us but, you're the one getting your ass whooped."

I shot him a glare. "Ha! You wish."

"Well you want to practice a while? My uncle is very slow at times." He asked.

"Sure." I could tell my eyes lit up when he said that.

We awkwardly stood there for only a few moments but it felt like years went by before Zuko spoke.

"Lets get started, shall we?"

I grinned at him. I bended the ocean blue water from the side of the ship and was simply just moving it left to right. I felt nervous, like something was off. I tried whipping it towards Zuko's direction but it failed and dropped on the ground not even about halfway there.

I cursed my self silently. I tried doing the same thing again and the same thing happened.

"Ugh! Why can't I bend today!" I threw my arms up and when they came back down the water that was on the ship when I tried to whip Zuko turned to ice.

I heard Zuko ask "Is everything all right?"

I shook my head. "I'm just not concentrating enough." I said

I could feel my tongue at the side of my mouth something I always did when I had to concentrate. Again I brought the water up from the ship and instead of moving it towards me I tried shooting it right at Zuko. _Jack pot. _I looked at Zuko and he was soaked. I smiled with pride.

"HA! I did it! Yes! Woot woot!" I actually did a happy dance but then something crossed my mind. _I bended water before… why am I so happy this time? Is it because I like Zuko? _I could feel a blush come up so I quickly some more water and aimed for Zukos feet. Right when the bright blue water hit Zuko's feet I turned the water into ice. I smiled the biggest smile when this happened.

"Ok you had your water bending fun now its my turn." Zuko said.

I watched as him as he bent over and had tiny little orange flames come out of his hands. Slowly the ice started to melt away and in no time after that it was a puddle of water. He looked at me right before he got in an attack position.

Just then a stream of bright orange flames came my way. I swiftly dodged these . He kept using these streams and they were coming at me faster and faster every time. I soon began to be running out of breath my dodging them all the time. He sent me another stream and I got in my position to redirect it. The fire seemed to slow down as I started to send it towards Zuko. I looked at the fire. Fire was one of the elements that people feared, people hate, but really it was a pretty sight to see. The oranges, yellows, and reds, all came together to make a beautiful thing. To bad this thing was used as destruction; not for beauty. The fire seemed to dance around me for a while before I shot it back at Zuko. He swiftly dodged it like it was no effort to him. This time he sent me fireballs. I redirected them back at him. He dodged all of that. He shot one more fireball but this one came at a speed so fast it was like lighting. I didn't have enough time to redirected it or dodge it. I thought quickly. I quickly bended the ocean water and brought it up just in time to turn the fire into nothing. Now it was my turn to attack again. I sent the water towards him in a whip kind of way but he just shot fire at it turning it into steam. I decided to bend a larger water whip. I aimed this one at his feet. _Got cha. _The water was around his ankles. I focused on the large water whipped. I could feel my tongue sneak out of my mouth. I moved the water up along with Zuko.

"Hey!" I heard him yell. "Get me down from here!"

"Wish granted" I said snickering

I made the water fall to the ground along with Zuko. He got up in a few seconds and started running towards me. I could see a small flame starting to form outside his right knuckle.

_Oh crap… What did I just do?_

He got closer and closer towards me. The flame started to grow tremendously. I could actually start to feel the heat of it. I just stood there shocked. _Was he really going to attack me?_ My body seemed to be paralyzed by fear. When he was about four foot steps away from me something came over me and I bended water to whip at him.

**Boom. **

Dark smoke covered the air for a few seconds. I looked up to see Zuko a few feet away from where I laid. He seemed to be ok from what just happened. I looked at myself. I looked ok until I looked at my left side. My clothing has burned and my scar was visible.

_Crap._

I then I heard a voice; it was Iroh's.

"Alright kiddies I'm.." He broke off in mid sentence. "What happened here?"

I spoke up having my right hand covering my arm. "We sorta started without you…but it was fun."

Iroh looked at me. "Well im glad you to had fun. Is Zuko ok?" he asked.

"Um… I don't know I'm going to check to see if anything happened to me so I'll just see you guys later then!" I waved to Iroh and quickly went in my room. I admittedly went to my bathroom to look at myself. I had some black ash on my face but that wasn't what I was worried about. I uncovered my hand to reveal my ugly scar. Something that I hated. It marked me for life. I sighed. I turned on the water to wash my face. I walked out of the room to go a new shirt. I picked out a another half way shirt that stopped at the elbows. Then I walked back again to the bathroom. I picked up the shiny silver knife with my right hand and cut myself on my left wrist again. In the middle of cutting myself I heard a knock at the door. Thinking it was a guard or someone that was just going to tell me something I opened the door to reveal Zuko.

_Shit!_

"Can I come in?" He asked.

"Um…sure." I said nervously. _I wonder if he could tell that I was nervous._

He sat down on my bed that was messy because I didn't make the bed today. I crossed my arms making sure I don't show my wrist.

" I have to say I didn't know you would put up a good fight." He said smiling.

"Haha yeah." I said. Without thinking about I awkwardly scratched my neck with my left hand. As soon as I saw Zuko amber eyes go wide I knew I made a mistake.

He got up from the bed faster then I ever and he grabbed my left wrist.

"What is this?" He said. His voice a mixture between anger and hurt.

"Just a cut I got during are fight." I said lying.

"Your lying. If this was from the fight it would of stopped bleeding from now." He looked me straight in the eyes.

"Marissa, do you cut yourself?"

I sighed in defeat. "Yes." I said in a whisper. I could feel tears stinging my eyes like a swarm of bees.

"Look at me." Zuko said in a serious voice. "Why?"

**A/N: Andddd that's it folks! Well for now that is. =) Anyways thanks you ****Sailor Sacred Moon, XXGoldenEclipseXX, Sarah Goodwill, and nicky122 for reviewing. Thanks SilverKitsuneGrlAngel for adding this story to their favorites. Thanks XXGoldenEclipseXX For adding this to their favorites and thank you nicky122 for adding this to your favorite stories and me to your favorite authors! Thanks a bunch you guys!**


	6. Cutting And Talking

**A/N: Ello! It is raining where I am at so I have nothing to do so yeah. =)**

"Why?" Zuko asked. He let go of my left hand.

"I…..I…" I stuttered. My eyes were blurred by tears that I held back. "I don't know." I looked away. I couldn't look at Zuko even though he was looking at me.

His voice surprised me; it was gentle and soft. "Yes, you do. People don't inflict pain to yourself for no reason."

I looked at him my vision still blurry from the tears that I held back with all my strength. I felt a hot tear roll out of my left eye. I wiped it away quickly so Zuko couldn't see it.

"Marissa…are you crying?" He asked so gently it reminded me of my father actually.

"No, im sweating through my eyes." I said quietly.

I walked over to my bed and plopped down on the bed. I started crying. I never told anyone about my life. It was the only subject that I cried a river about. I felt a warm hand on my back.

"Its okay to cry." Zuko said in a comforting voice.

I could feel my blood boil with anger. I hated when people say that. "No." I said coldly. "It's not. It's a sign of not being strong enough, a sign of _weakness._"

Zuko still keeping his voice calm, "Crying isn't a sign of weakness. It's a sign of being strong for way to long."

All my anger seemed to be washed away when he said that. It was like a wave washing away the golden sand.

"Now please tell me why you cut yourself?" I could tell Zuko was pleading.

I left out a heavy sigh. I could feel my self tear up again.

"Its because of the life I had. I had no one to talk too. Expect for my dad." I felt a clear saltwater tear slowly descend from my hazel eye to the pillow.

"What happened to your dad?" Zuko asked curiously.

"Fire Nation." I simply said.

"Oh…" Zuko got all quiet.

"He was the parent I could rely on. But when he was murdered…" I stopped. It felt like my heart was breaking again. The pain was unbearable.

"My mother was like that…" Zuko started to say. " Unlike my father."

I was shocked. Coming from a royal family I thought everything would be perfect. Getting whatever you want, the fame, popularity, ruling the Fire Nation.

"I…" I left out a sigh. "I cut myself to relieve the pain that happened in my life. I bleed to know I'm alive. It's the way of letting out my feelings that I keep bottled up inside me. People have different ways of expressing all those things, some are better some are worse. Cutting in a nutshell is my way to relieve pain and anger that I experienced in my life."

"Will it make you feel better to talk about your life?" Zuko asked.

_Will it? I don't even know. _Thoughts ran around and were twisted around my brain like a snake.

For the million time that night I sighed. "I guess."

I gulped. I never told anyone about my life. "My mother is a general for the Fire Nation and my father was a warrior in the Southern Water Tribe. They met and they fell in "love". They both moved to the Fire Nation to start a new life there. But, my mother became addicted to her work like a drug. She wanted to be the best general the Fire Lord has ever seen. Their marriage soon became to crumble and I was left in the middle of it. My father left to go back to the Southern Water tribe. He left when I was seven. I didn't see him for five years."

I tear escaped my right eye. Even though it was painful to talk about I continued the story.

"I lived with my mother a while. I attended school and I had to say I liked it. It got me away from _her._ I met friends there like any normal kid and at every chance I got I wanted to hang out with them. My mother soon was barley even home by the time I was nine. I was an independent child so I didn't care as much. Sometimes I didn't see her for days. When we did we wouldn't talk. Our relationship fell apart. We had talks of course why I hated her. I remember one time she said she had unconditional love for me; one that a parent has to their children. I thought she had that kind of love towards her work though. She also said I look at her with so much hate. Of course I didn't care though. This went on for years until I was 11."

I could feel anger boil up like a volcano, but I could also feel sadness too.

"She got mad at me one night. I don't even remember what for. She was angry though. The most angriest I ever saw her. She dragged me out to our yard right by the cherry blossom tree. She burned me there, she even threatened to kill me!" I yelled the last part.

"Not to be rude or anything but… if she burned you where is your scar?" Zuko asked.

I went to the dresser to pull out a black tank top. I went to the bathroom and changed in to it. My scar was visible. I walked out and Zuko saw the scar. My scar light pink in some areas but other areas red. The scar stopped at my elbow and swirled around my arm. The light pink was all over my upper arm but the red seemed to tango with the pink and added its own design, over laying the red. It looked like zig zags, wavy lines, and most of all just like a three year old scribbled a tattoo on me. Zuko's eyes got as wide as an owls. More tears escaped my eyes.

"Your own mother did that to you?" His voice got angrier.

"Yes." I choked out.

I felt warm arms engulf me. I lay my head down on Zuko's chest crying my eyes out. _God I'm not even at the worst part._

"It's okay. My father gave me my scar too." His voice sounded sad as ever.

I sniffled and wiped away the tears, breaking the hug. "Really?" I asked.

"Yeah." He looked away.

I made my way over to the bed again. "That's not it though."

Zuko looked at me shocked. "Your own mother abused you and you still have more to tell?" His voice sounded angry but also shocked.

"Yeah. After that I went to the Southern Water Tribe to live with my dad. He taught me so many things, I cant even explain it. He also gave me what my mother didn't give me at all, love. I even discovered I was a water bender there. It was the happiest years of my life ,but it just shattered like glass then. I woke up in the middle of the night and he wasn't in his bed. I went outside in a raging snowstorm looking for him. I found his trail and I found him in the tundra, burned to death." My eyes soon became cloudy again. The tears stung and I let all the pain get washed away. " I don't know who did it. There wasn't a fire bender in our tribe at all. Even if there was they wouldn't want to kill my dad."

"I returned to the Fire Nation after that. The one place I didn't want to be at all. I was living in a hell. My mother still didn't want to talk to me, and she was also still obsessed with her work. She wanted to know why I still hated her. I didn't say anything to her. That's when she challenged me to an Agni Kai. That's when I met you and your uncle. Of course I didn't know you then and I had to say I wasn't pleased to met you at all." I smiled.

"So are you happy now?" I asked Zuko.

"Yes, I am." He hugged me again. This one lasted a lot longer then the last one that we shared earlier that night.

It felt like a weight got lifted off my shoulders. Telling someone about my life felt like something inside me was glowing.

"I'm happy you shared that with me." Zuko said still hugging me.

"Me to." I laughed.

"Promise me something." Zuko's tone got all serious.

My smiled dropped. "What?" I answered worriedly.

"Promise me that you'll never ever cut yourself again." Zuko looked me straight in the eyes when saying that.

"I pinky promise." I held out my pinky.

Zuko gave me a confused look.

"Don't you know what a pinky promise is?" I asked.

"No." he said.

I sighed. "Okay it's a severe promise. You can never _ever_ break it."

He then held out his pinky and I pinky promised him.

"Hold on." I said getting up from my bed. I went to the bathroom. The knife still lay there. I picked it up and washed of the blood that was still on it. I sighed. Cutting was an addiction. Hopefully this one could stop. I held it and walked out of the room. I gave it to Zuko.

"Here. I don't want it anymore."

He gave me a confused look. "When did you get this?"

"Remember when I ran into the one night? And you said stop roaming around the ship?"

"Yeah."

"That's when."

"Oh"

"Yeah…"

He put the knife down and he looked at me. "If I do something you promise not to get mad?"

"Promise." I said. _What was he going to do? _

He cupped my face with his hands and leaned down. I felt my lips and his lips connect. It felt like fireworks were going off. It was amazing. I wish it would last forever but I knew it couldn't. He stopped the kiss.

"So are you mad?" He asked.

"Not one bit." I smiled.

"Good." He said smiling back.

He picked up the knife again.

"I'll put this somewhere where you can't get this again."

"Okay. And I wont go looking for it."

He smiled "Good night. Don't go to the kitchen again. Got it?" He asked

"Yep. And goodnight." I said.

I watched as Zuko went out the door.

"Wait!" I yelled.

He turned around. His amber eyes questioning 'what?'

"Thank you." I said.

"Your welcome." And with that he walked out.

**A/N: There you guys go. =) Hope you liked it. Thanks to nicky122, FullMetalSoulReaper, and XXGoldenEclipseXX for reviewing. Also thanks to Iceheart123 for adding this to your story alert. **


	7. Crap

**A/N: We have a day off because of…..RAIN! Yes I just did say rain. We got MASSIVE flooding everywhere and we might have off tomorrow to because we are suppose to get more of it. School is boring as usual so =P.**

I woke up and it felt like I was on cloud nine. I still couldn't believe that Zuko was so understanding and actually listened to me. But still one thing bothered me… That scar on his face. He said his father gave him that scar. I always thought he got that scar in a training accident. I went up to the control tower to see where we were going. There hasn't been a sighting or a trace of the avatar since Kyoshi. Of course I didn't really care but Zuko did. When I got to the control tower Zuko and Iroh was there.

"Where is he?" Zuko somewhat yelled.

A person that worked there spoke up "We have no clue your highness, sorry."

Zuko clenched his fists.

"Calm down." I said. Zuko spun around. _Did he not know I was here?_

"Marissa what are you doing here?" he asked.

"I just wanted to see where you were and plus I'm bored but that's not new is it now?"

Zuko sighed. He looked at the map. "Where would the avatar be?" He asked to no one in particular.

"He has to master water bending so he's probably going to the north pole, to the Northern Water Tribe."

Zuko looked at me. "Thank you caption obvious."

"Your welcome lieutenant sarcasm." I said.

I heard Iroh laugh.

"Ok but really where would the avatar be?" Zuko asked me.

"Somewhere on the way to the North Pole." I blandly said.

He shot daggers at me but I couldn't care less.

A person that worked on the ship came up to Zuko. "Your highness we must make a stop at an Earth Kingdom prison."

Zuko shot his gaze at the person who I thought was just one of those people that work in the Control Tower. "Why?"

"They are under control of the Fire Nation of course and the Fire Nation people that work there has invited you to be there."

"Oh… Okay then. Set our ship to the prison!" There was a tint of excitement in his voice. I couldn't help but smile about this.

"So Marissa." I heard Iroh say. "You know how to play Pai sho?" He asked.

"No…" I said.

"You want to learn how to play?" He asked.

"Um…" I started out. "Sure?" I said questioning myself.

"Good, sit down." He said smiling.I sat down on a red cushion as he explained the game. Something about you must have harmony with the tiles and you must not disrupt the harmony. The rest I heard was _blah blah blah. _

Iroh made his first move with a tile that had a white flower on it. I choose one that had a white jade flower on it. A couple turns in I was completely lost.

"Remember Marissa harmony." Iroh nagged.

Every move I moved seemed to disrupt the 'harmony'. I soon got fed up with this game.

"Ugh! Screw this!" I got up from the cushion and started walking out of the door. I went out on the deck to see Zuko practicing fire bending with other crew members that were also fire benders. I just stood there watching them practice. I saw Zuko turn around and I knew he saw me.

Zuko came over to me. "I thought you were playing Pai Sho with my uncle." He questioned.

"I became fed up with the game. Besides can't I watch you practice?" I asked.

I saw Zuko's pale face light up with a pastel pink color. _Aw he's blushing. _I thought.

"Well can't you find something better to do on this ship?" He asked somewhat with a yell.

"Where on a ship so no." I simply said.

"Ugh…" Zuko said but then trailed off.

"So can I watch you practice or what?" I asked.

Zuko sighed. "I guess."

I smiled. He continued practicing and my eyes were glued to Zuko. He would use quick sharp punches and kicks to create fire which was the opposite of water bending. After many kicks and punches I started to ponder why Zuko wasn't getting tired. I shrugged my shoulders to myself. After a couple more minutes Zuko stopped. He came over to me.

"You want to practice now?" He asked me.

I grinned. "Sure but again I am going to kick your ass."

Zuko rolled his amber eyes. "Whatever you say." he said as he started walking towards the open where he was practicing just minutes before. I followed him and I got into my fighting position.

He attacked first with the quick movements he performed right before. I brought up water and whipped the it at the fire to make it into thin air. I brought up a whip of water and aimed it at his feet. Zuko kicked fire at my water to make it into steam. Just then I saw something. It was a tall building that looked completely out of metal. _Was this the Earth Kingdom prison? _I was busy in my own thoughts when I looked back at Zuko but my sight only to be blocked by a blazing fire ball. My adrenaline kicked in and it seemed to slow down the fire. I brought up my right arm to punch it right back at Zuko. I could feel the fire touch my knuckles and I got scared. _Wasn't it redirecting? _Just then the fire engulfed my whole right arm. I screamed and I fell to the metal ground holding my right arm. I did not need another scar. Zuko ran over to me.

"Marissa are you okay?" Zuko asked in a worried frantic voice.

I removed my hand and I bended water with my left hand and I put it on my right arm. It started glowing a bright icy blue. This meant it was healing. I felt Zuko's eyes go wide but I didn't care. After a while the glowing died down and I removed my hand. No burn mark. I breathed out a sigh of relief.

I looked at Zuko his eyes wide as he just seen a ghost.

Without looking at him I asked "What?"

"How….how did you do that?" Zuko asked shocked.

"Its called healing something that fire bending cant do." I said.

"Oh.." Zuko simply said.

Zuko just stared at my arm. "That's amazing though."I laughed. "Haha yeah. I guess."

I saw Iroh appear. "Come Prince Zuko and Marissa. Where here."

Zuko held out his hand. I felt my face get hot but I gladly accepted his help.

When we got to the prison one of the guards ran up to Zuko.

"Your highness…" He was panting really bad like he ran a mile. "The earth benders…they have escaped!"

I could tell Zuko was mad. "How come they escaped!" He yelled.

"They…they used the coal." the guard said looking down avoiding eye contact.

We went around the prison looking at the damage the earth benders have done. To tell you the truth I never saw earth bending. I saw fire bending water bending and air bending but never earth bending. I could tell earth bending was powerful though. I mean come on if they escaped from a high security prison they had to be good. Walking around I found something in the ruble. I picked it up and I knew what it was. It was a betrothal necklace. This necklace was a custom in the Southern Water Tribe and it was a sign of engagement. It was a blue with the water tribe symbol on it. I thought it was beautiful. I heard footsteps behind me and then I heard Zuko's voice.

"What is that?" He asked.

I simply handed the necklace over to him. He looked at it and examined it.

"This was the girls necklace the avatar was traveling with."

My eyes went wide. Sokka's sister was traveling with the avatar….

_Crap._

"Everybody back to the ship!" Zuko yelled. I just stood there shocked. This was going to go bad.

**A/N: 2 days off because of rain! =D. Sorry if its boring guys. I will be busy this weekend so… Yeah… Anyways thanks nicky122, namine23, XXGoldenEclipseXX, and FullMetalSoulReaper for reviewing and thank you namine23 for adding this story to your favorite! **


	8. Almost

**A/N: Hey guys sorry for the long update. School has really been a pain in the butt like always. =P. Plus a lot of other things that are going on.**

I couldn't believe it. _No no no no. _I shook my head. He couldn't. Impossible. I was still standing there. It felt like I was paralyzed. I heard Zuko call me to go back to the ship. I walked like a zombie. I couldn't believe it. As soon as I got to the ship I heard talking about how Zuko was one step closer to finding the avatar. I tuned them out as I walked to my room.

Zuko called my name but I ignored him. As soon as I got below deck I started running towards my room. I swung the door open and quickly shut it. I turned the lock on the door and I plopped on my bed. My hazel eyes started to water. I refused to let them fall. I mean I should be happy for Zuko but, I was far from it.

_Come on Marissa your just overreacting. _My mind said to me.

I had to agree with the voice within my head…I was. When my dad would yell at me I would tear up. I laughed at myself for this. After his death and returning to the Fire Nation I locked my emotions inside me, but at night I would cry and let everything out.

I left out a sigh. The old me was still inside me clawing its way out and slowly appearing again.

"Ugh!" I threw a red pillow of the bed. I hated feeling weak. Maybe it was because I had Fire Nation running through my blood. I heard a knock at the door.

"Who is it." I said in a bored tone.

"Its Iroh. If you see the prince say to him I'm going to the hot springs. They aren't to far away from here."

"Oh…okay. I'll tell him that then when I see him." I said in return. _If I see him. _

Iroh said thanks and I heard his foot steps slowly fade away.

I sighed. I laid down in my bed. Since I was on a ship there wasn't much to do. I started thinking about my life: my mom, my dad, the war, Zuko.

I guess hours passed because I heard a knock at the door.

"What?" I spat out. I did not like being interrupted.

"Its Zuko. Um…have you seen my uncle at all?" He asked.

"Oh he told me he's going to the hot springs or something like that." I said.

I heard the door jingle. "Hey!" I heard Zuko yell. "Why is this locked?"

_Shit. _I got up from my bed and unlocked the door with a _click. _I opened the door just a crack to see Zuko's face and for him to see half of mine. Just then his arm grabbed my arm and started pulling me.

"No!" I yelled. I dug my feet in the ground not wanted to be pulled out of my room. Zuko being stubborn didn't listen to me.

"Dude! Let me go!"

I started squirming to get out of his grip. It was a fail. He just gripped my arm harder.

"Your _so _lucky I have a high pain tolerance!" I yelled at him.

He turned around and looked at me. He sighed. "Look just stop yelling. Your coming with me to get my uncle." He said.

"Oh…" I whispered. Now I felt like an idiot. "Gee you could of told me that earlier!"

" I didn't think you would put up a fight and yell at me." He growled.

"Humph."

We started walking of the ship to the dense forest. I actually almost lost Zuko a few times in the field of green and browns.

Zuko started to yell. "Uncle its time to leave where are you uncle Iroh?"

I started to yell uncle Iroh to but we just got the sounds of birds chirping. Zuko soon moved these plants aside and they looked like it was bamboo. Then in the clearing there was Iroh.

"I'm over here!" Iroh yelled.

"Uncle?" Zuko said in a what the heck voice. I started to laugh.

"We need to move on were closing in the avatar trail and I don't want to lose him!" Zuko yelled impatiently.

" You look tired Prince Zuko and Marissa. Why don't you join me in these hot springs to soak your troubles away."

I was about to say something when Zuko cut me off.

"My troubles can not be soaked away." Zuko said. "Its time to go!" He whined.

"Stop acting like a five year old." I said in a bland voice. I felt Zuko glare at me.

Iroh spoke up "You should take your teacher's advice and relax a little. I heated it by my self."

Where Iroh bathed it was over powered by steam. I rolled my eyes _show off._

"Enough!" Zuko yelled. "We need to go now!" Zuko yelled losing his patience. "Get out of the water!"

"Very well." Iroh said getting up from the hot springs. Zuko shielded his eyes and mine. I had to laugh at this.

"On second thought why don't you take a few extra minutes." Zuko said in a creped out voice. I had a big smile on my face.

"But be back at the ship in a half an hour or I'm leaving without you!" Zuko told his uncle as he walked away.

I flashed a smile a Iroh and soon followed Zuko back the ship.

-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-

It was getting late and Iroh wasn't back yet. I stood on the deck with Zuko and night was falling fast.

"Where is he?" He said impatiently. " I told him to be back here in a half an hour and he's still not here!" Zuko yelled.

I just looked at him and shrugged my shoulders.

"Ugh! Come on we are tracking him down." He motioned me to come towards him. I followed as we went to get the Rhinos. I was still slightly afraid of them but I knew I couldn't argue about something stupid with Zuko right now. Zuko also took a few people from his trip to come along on the adventure.

We traveled threw the night and I had to say I was getting tired. The air was quite pleasant and Zuko's warm body was making me even more comfortable. My eyelids soon became heavy and they felt like they were hundred pounds.

"Uncle? Uncle where are you?" Zuko screamed into the night.

I growled at this, I was right about to go to sleep. Oh well. I could tell Zuko was frantic; losing his uncle meant a lot to him. When we finally got where we talked to Iroh hours before there were some rocks there that weren't there before. _That's strange. _

Zuko jumped off the Rhino.

"Sir maybe he thought you left without him." The guard said to the troubled prince.

Zuko looked at the pile of rocks. "Something isn't right here…that pile of rocks." He said with a suspicious tone.

"It looks like there has been a landslide here sir." Another guard piped up.

"Land doesn't slide uphill." Zuko started out. "Those rocks didn't move naturally." He then paused obviously thinking about something. Moments seemed to past but really it was only seconds. "My uncle has been captured by earth benders!" He said in a shock tone.

-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0

We went to the ship then and soon as we got back I slept like I didn't sleep for years. Now it was morning and I saw Zuko in the morning light his face confused.

"Hey…what's wrong?" I asked with worry.

He sighed. "Just thinking about my uncle." He said softly. "So that's why me and you are going to search for him."

He grabbed my hand and we were right back on the rhinos. _yippee. _I thought sarcastically.

-0-0-0-0-0-0

It was almost noon and we still had no trace of Iroh. I sighed. All that I saw where trees and clouds that I was aimlessly day dreaming at. Just then I spotted something up the dirt path.

I poked Zuko in the back. "Hey what's that up a head?" I asked him.

He told the rhino to go faster and when we got to the object he got off to inspect it. He picked it up and brought it to his nose.

"Please don't sniff that." I said with a disgusting tone of voice.

It was to late. He already took a wif of that object which it was found out was a sandal.

He brought the sandal away from his face with a sick looking face. "Yep that's uncle Irohs." And with that he got up on the rhino and we continued our journey.

0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0

An hour or two passed and we found the trail of ostrich horses. Apparently these animals where common in the Earth Kingdom so Zuko said uncle Iroh was with him. Just then I spotted something moving in the white fluffy clouds.

"Hey Zuko. What is that up in the sky?" I asked him and pointed to the moving thing.

"The avatar!" He said with excitement but he soon got a sad look in his amber eyes. He was debating whether or not to follow the avatar or keep continuing the trail to his missing uncle.

"Zuko…" I started out.

He took the reins of the rhino and steered it back on Iroh's trail. I smiled at this. _He didn't make the wrong decision…for once. _I thought.

0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0

Night was coming fast. The warmth of the sun disappeared and the cold darkness of the moon now appeared. Zuko and I were still following the ostrich horse's tracks. They seemed never ending. Then there was a large crater in the middle of a large open field.

"He's down there." Zuko said excitement tinting his voice.

He slowed the gray rhino and soon it became to a full stop. Zuko jumped off not saying if I could join in on the fighting or not. I shrugged my shoulders. I hopped off the rhino and started heading for the ditch.

"These dangerous hands need to be crushed." I heard someone say guessing it was on of the earth kingdom people who captured Iroh.

After hearing this I jumped down in the ditch to help and save who ever hands were about to be crushed. When I got there Iroh was in chains and was tied like a dog to a rock. A big piece were so close to Iroh's hand I held my breath. At the last second Zuko jumped in and kicked the rock away leaving the earth benders in shock. Zuko then quickly sliced the chain in two so Iroh was free.

"Excellent form Prince Zuko." Iroh said.

"You taught me well." Zuko remarked. He got in a fighting position; eyeing the earth kingdom people in the eyes. The earth kingdom people where all dressed in green so it was easy to tell who was fire nation and who was earth kingdom.

I was quite surprised the people didn't even see me at all. It was a small crater but I guess their attention was based on the two fire nation guys.

"Surrender yourselves!" The earth kingdom man commanded.

"Never." I piped up. Zuko looked at me in shock with the _what the hell are you doing _look too. Iroh just simply smiled at me.

"Its five against three. You are clearly outmatched." The same man said.

This time Iroh spoke. "Ah that's true but you are clearly outmatched!"

With that fire was flung to the earth kingdom people. Iroh was kicking some serious butt with the chains. There were was one earth kingdom man who looked at me.

"What is a pretty girl like your self hanging out with these ugly creeps. Come on I am _way _better looking then them." He said ending it with a smirk.

At first I blushed but then it got serious. I whipped out a small amount of water and aimed it at his feet. He stopped my water from hitting his feet with a slab of brown rock he brought up out of nowhere. I had no experience fighting earth benders. Hopefully this didn't go bad. With that slab of rock he blocked with my water bending and sent it flying at me. I quickly brought up a blue liquid to stop it and slice it in half. He then sent another rock at me and I thought fast. I whipped some light blue water at the rock to seem to corral it like an animal; lassoing it around the rock. I then flung the rock and my water at the man. He screamed and soon fell to the ground. _Well…that was easy. _I thought. Shortly after I defeated the earth bender Iroh and Zuko soon finished up their business. I joined them in the center of the crater and soon Zuko put a hand around Iroh's shoulders.

"Now will you please put some clothes on now?" He asked.

I laughed. "Agreed."

Iroh laughed too.

0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0

When we got the ship a while later it was far into the a.m. but I wasn't tired. The days events still ran in my blood and the excitement still tingled. I was standing on the deck of the ship the wind softly playing with my hair. I looked at the crescent shaped. It was such a beautiful night.

"Hey." I heard a voice behind me and I jumped.

"Sorry I scared you." It was Zuko. _Thank god. _

"Its okay." I said.

I watched as Zuko came towards me.

"it's a beautiful night…isn't it?" He asked me.

"Yeah" I said staring at his face. His amber eyes seemed to have an unusual happy glow to them.

"Um…" he started out. "If I do something you promise not to get mad?" He asked

"I don't know." I said with a grin. "What is it your planning to do?" I asked mischievously.

"It's nothing bad I swear." He said.

I rolled by eyes but then I looked back right at him his eyes looking at me so intently. He then started to start to lean forward towards me. _He was going to kiss me! _I thought. I felt a blush appear on my cheeks. We were just about centimeters away from are lips connecting. I soon turned away.

"Oh…hey… Look at the time! I got to go Zuko. See you later!" I said as I quickly fast walked below deck.

_God why didn't you kiss him? _The voice yelled inside me head.

I tried to ignore it as much as I could but I soon yelled back. "He's just going to hurt me one way or another!" I screamed.

_Maybe he is different. _The voice said in a calmer way.

I left out a chuckle. "All people are the same. They just back stab with a sharp knife and they leave you to die in your own blood." I sneered.

"After the whole thing with my mother you know after that I don't trust people a lot!" I yelled back.

The voice inside my head got quiet. It knew I was right. I left out a sigh and went to my room. When I got there I just left out another sigh and changed into my pjs. I crawled into bed with Zuko still fresh in my mind.

-Zuko's POV-

_I thought she liked me. _I thought.

I felt anger build up inside me when I thought of this. _She liked me and she turned me down! _I thought angrily.

"Fine if she wants to play this game she can go ahead and play it!" I yelled.

_Maybe she is just afraid. _A timid voice said in my head.

I never thought of something like that. She's afraid to come close to someone. I thought backed and I remembered her saying about the horrible things her mother did to her. _How could I be so stupid! _Then a yawn escaped my mouth. _I guess it's time for me to go to bed. _

**A/N: And it is finished! Thanks so much to FullMetalSoulReaper, nicky122 for reviewing this and thanks whaleshavewings for adding me to story alert and thanks to Irisowlsanddevilwovles for adding this to your favorite story! =D**


	9. Avatar Roku and my mother

**A/N: Hey guys. I have really nothing to say so let's get on with the story!**

It was a couple days after Zuko tried to kiss me. I had to say it was awkward at first walking by him but now I got used to it. Things were returning to normal.

I was standing on the deck of the ship with the water the perfect blue and the sky the most beautiful light blue color you ever see. The clouds were like cotton balls. They looked so fluffy and soft I wanted to sleep on one of them. I breathed in a breath of fresh air.

"Isn't it a perfect day Marissa?" A voice said behind me. I spun around to see Iroh and Zuko.

I smiled. "Yeah…it is."

Zuko walked right by me to go to the telescope and Iroh stood back with me.

"Sailing into Fire Nation waters…of all the foolish things you done in your 16 years prince Zuko…this is the most foolish!

_Wait…were sailing into Fire Nation waters... _I gulped.

Zuko still looking through the telescope said, "I have no choice uncle."

"Have you completely forgotten that the fire lord banished you? Iroh said raising his voice at the last part. I never heard Iroh raise his voice before. I guess there is a first for everything. "What if you're caught?" Iroh added his voice returning to normal.

Zuko turned around. "I'm chasing the avatar. My father will understand why I'm returning home.

"You give him too much credit. My brother is not the understanding type." Iroh said calmly.

Zuko ignored him and went back to look through his telescope. The telescope was built right onto the ship and I haven't noticed it before. It had a big lenses and it was gray with some red with it.

Out of the blue Zuko said "There they are…helmsman!" He called out "Full steam ahead!"

I was guessing he spotted the avatar. I shrugged my shoulders and I turned around to see a massive device. It was a gigantic catapult with something on it to throw at the avatar. I never saw anything like it.

I saw Iroh fanning himself and when I stood next to him I understood why. The smell was over powering. It smelt like rotten eggs and dirty socks.

"Ugh…really prince Zuko couldn't you shoot them down with something more fragrance?" He asked.

I held my nose. "Agreed."

Zuko light whatever smelled so bad on fire. "On my mark… Fire! With that the smelly object flew into the air like a bird right into the clouds. Zuko then turned his attention to the sea.

"A block aid!" Zuko gasped.

"Technically you are still in Earth Kingdom water. Turn back now and they cannot arrest you." Iroh said.'

Zuko was still locked on the avatar. "He's not turning around…" Zuko said quietly.

"Please prince Zuko if the Fire nation captures you and Marissa there's nothing I can do. Do not follow the avatar." Iroh plead.

"Yeah Zuko…" I said. "Please don't follow the avatar."

Zuko lowered his head. "I'm sorry….Run the block aid!" Zuko said loudly.

I left out a heavy sigh. Zuko was stubborn and there was no stopping him. He did everything his way. Lost in my train of thoughts I didn't see the fire ball come at the ship.

I just stood there as the ball of fire came at the ship and hit the engines. Another fire ball hit the tranquil water and sent a wave of water at the ship._ This was bad._

I heard a guy say "Prince Zuko the engines are damaged. We need to stop and make repairs."

Zuko being stubborn as a bull said "Do not stop this ship."

I turned to Iroh "Were on a collision course." His voice full of worry.

"We can make it!" Zuko said loudly.

I stood there as we went through the ships with ease. I turned to Zuko to see him stare at someone. I stared at the person to but then a woman appeared to his right. She had long pin straight black hair and a wicked look in her dark amber eyes. I knew that face anywhere. How could I ever forget it? It was my mother. I felt her gaze full of hate towards me and I sent it right back to her. I couldn't hold it for long though. I quickly turned around and I felt tears form in my hazel eyes. I held them back in my eyes and soon they were gone.

Zuko turned to me. " Do you know who that girl was that was standing next to Zhao?" He asked.

"Yes." I replied shortly.

"Who was it?" He asked again.

"Don't you remember her?" I asked him.

Zuko thought about it for a while. "Was that your mother?" He asked quietly and ever so gentle.

"Yes…It was." I said with no emotion present in my voice. _What was she doing out on the ship? Let alone with Zhao?_

I left out a heavy sigh. Life is confusing.

0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0

After a while Zuko was straining the handle bar of the boat. He was obviously confused.

"What is he up to uncle? Why didn't commander Zhao arrest me?" He asked to Iroh.

"Because he wants to follow you. He knows you'll lead him to the prize your both after…the avatar." Iroh said.

"If Zhao wants to follow our trail of smoke then that's exactly that I'll let him do." Zuko said.

I wondered what he was up to until he gestured me to follow him. We were soon in the dark part of the ship when he turned on a light using his fire. There in front of me was a little ship. It was so little compared to the other ship l laughed a little.

"Get in." He said.

"Okay geez no rush." I said as I was getting in the puny ship.

Zuko followed shortly after me and soon we were disconnected from the bigger ship.

I took a look around the smaller ship. It had two single beds _thank god_. It also had a bathroom and a kitchen. All in all it was nice.

"So…" I said breaking the silence. "How long are we on here for?" I asked.

"About two hours." He simply said.

I left out a sigh. _This was going to be a long two hours._

0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0

We hit land just like Zuko said in about two hours. As the door of the ship opened I started to walk towards the exit. That was before Zuko stopped me.

"You're not going with me." He said looking me in the eyes.

"Why not?" I whined.

"Look… I know you want to go along with me but it's too dangerous. So please just listen to me just once and listen to me?" He said pleading. Zuko managed to pull of puppy eyes. I left out a sigh.

"I guess." I mumbled.

"Good." Zuko said.

Right before Zuko left he turned around and gave me a hug. I smiled a little smile.

"Good luck." I said.

"Yeah I know… I need it." And with that Zuko walked off and closed the ship door.

I sighed. I had no idea how long Zuko was going to be in there for. Minutes? Or hours? So many possibilities. I left out another sigh. Then I heard talking going on from outside the ship.

"I guess the traitor beat us here. What a shame." I heard a guy say. _Was it commander Zhao?_

"Well he left his ship un attended." A woman said. _Was that my mother?_

"Hmm… I don't know Zia. Prince Zuko is smart. Maybe he left something important behind." Zhao said.

I got scared. _ What did he mean by important? Did he mean I was important? Where the hell do I even hide? _ I thought to myself.

I pulled the one of the beds out just a bit so I could squeeze myself in the crack. I heard the door of the ship open. I could feel my heart rate go up. I held my breath maybe they won't notice me. I squeezed my eyes shut.

"Come out come out wherever you are." I heard a sneer from my mother.

_Crap crap crap crap! I think they know I'm in here!_ I tried to lower my breathing so it was quiet but then something bad happened. I felt something tickle my nose. This ship was probably not used for a while and the people of the ship didn't dust it or clean it. The tickling continued and I needed to sneeze. As soon as it happened it ended. _Phew that was a close one._ I spoke to soon. Out of nowhere a sneeze escaped. _Shit!_

"Ah there you are my dear!" I heard my mom say.

I felt a yank on my shirt as she pulled me out of the hidden position I was in.

"Well well well look Zhao what I found." She said sneering.

"Very will Zia." Zhao said wearing a wicked smile on his face.

My mother pulled me out on the island. "Well I didn't expect to see you again."

"Neither did I." I sneered.

Just then I felt a fist connect to my eye. "What are you going to do now? Expect Zuko to save you or your pathetic waterbending?" She said with an evil voice.

I tried to kick her but I failed.

"You're a failure just like your father!" She said looking me dead in the eye.

My eyes watered up. I couldn't help myself. Her talking about my father in that way was like a knife cutting my heart open. I felt a drop of water slide down my face.

"You know…it's funny how you never showed any emotion when you were with me for the second time. Now I know you actually do." She stopped to laugh. "And I just found your weak spot." She grinned. Soon I felt a pain to my right cheek. She had just slapped me. I looked up at her full of hate.

"Now come with me and Zhao. We're going to capture what your _boyfriend_ is after too." She again smiled a wicked grin.

_Did she just call Zuko my boyfriend? What the heck? Ugh….Mothers. _

My mother gripped my wrist so hard. I really didn't want to follow her but what choice did I have? I left out a sigh as we approached the tall fire nation temple. We soon got inside and the walls were red and there were some torches for light on the wall. We soon found a stair case and we followed it up only to hear the sounds of people waiting for us at the top. Before I got to the top of the stairs my mother yanked me back.

"Time to put your hair up my darling." She said. Saying that she yanked my dark brown hair so far back it felt it was getting ripped right out of my head.

I bit my bottom lip so hard I soon tasted something; and that something was blood.

My mother tugged my hair back and with no gentleness at all she threw it up in a pony tail.

"Gee mom you were gentle…thanks." I said my voice dripping with sarcasm.

She flashed me a smile "Thanks I know I am."

After saying that she pulled me into up the stairs where Zhao and his crew went. I gulped I had no idea what to expect. I gulped. When I got to the scene all I saw were Zhao's crew everywhere. My mother shoved them out of the way. We soon got the front and I saw Zuko with these other people that probably worked here at the temple.

"The fire lord will be pleased when I bring home three traitors." Zhao said to Zuko.

"You counted wrong Zhao. I only see two traitors here!" Zuko yelled.

"I think you didn't count your girlfriend." Zhao said.

I felt my mother push me forwards and I felt my body hit the cold unforgiving ground. I grunted and when I looked up I saw Zuko looking at me worried sick.

"Let her go! And she isn't my girlfriend!" Zuko said the last part angrily.

As I pulled myself off the ground I felt warm hands wrap around me. At first I worried because I thought it was my mother or Zhao but I was relieved when I found out it was Zuko.

"Zhao anyways you are too late. The avatar is inside and the doors are sealed." Zuko sneered to Zhao.

Zhao shrugged his shoulders. "No matter sooner or later he has to come out." Zhao said.

I saw my mother come up with metal chains and gestured me and Zuko to come over. It seemed like Zuko was going to put up a fight but I sighed and he understood.

We were soon tied to a column.

"It's nice to know that you're my daughter's boyfriend and you can't even protect her." My mother said to Zuko.

I could tell Zuko was angry. The veins in his neck were appearing.

"Zuko calm down." I said. "please" I added quietly.

I looked around and I saw that two other kids were tied around a column too. I tried to tune them out but I could feel the stare of the boy.

Then he said something. "Marissa….Marissa is that you?" I looked up quickly and I soon realized it was Sokka. There was a girl with him that looked somewhat like him. Tan skin with the dark brown hair. I guessed that was his sister.

"Oh hey Sokka." I said.

Zuko whispered in my ear. "You know those people?" He asked

I nodded my head.

"What's up?" He asked.

"Nothing much. Other then I'm tied to a pole. It's very interesting." I said

Sokka laughed. "You're the same as the same back then." His light blue eyes lit up. "Just as I remember it" He said

"I'm guessing you're the same too…sadly." I said

Sokka was about to say something but then Zhao interrupted.

"When those doors open I want you to unleash all your fire power." He said to his crew and my mother. I felt my eyes go wide. I didn't know the avatar personally but I knew it was a big deal to Zuko and plus he was only a kid.

When the doors open I saw a pair of glowing white eyes and soon a bright icy blue light appeared.

"Fire!" Zhao commanded.

"Aang no!" The girl next to Sokka said.

I held my breath. Then instead of seeing a young boy I saw a man. It was avatar Ruko! He was dressed in Fire nation clothing even though he glowed a blue.

Zhao, my mother, and the crew shot fire at Ruko. The fire seemed to twirl and dance around the previous avatar and then sent the fire right back at the crew. I looked away and closed my eyes shut. I then felt the chain that held me to the column break and I felt free again but also shocked and confused. _Why didn't it burn me?_ I asked myself. I stood there lost but I soon felt a hand grab my arm. I quickly looked at the person and I saw it was Zuko. I breathed out a sigh of relief. He started leading me by the stairs.

At the last second I said "Bye Sokka! See you around!"

We quickly made our way out of the temple that was burning. _Was avatar Ruko destroying it?_ As fast as we could we made it to Zuko's ship which was the regular normal sized one._ Thank god._ I quickly got on the ship with Zuko still leading the way and I breathed out a heavy sigh. We were soon sailing away from the island which was now being burned and covered by lava and fire.

I stood on deck with Iroh and Zuko as Zuko peered through the telescope one last time. After he was done looking threw it he looked at me.

"You have a black eye." He said to me. "Let's get you fixed up." He said the last part with a small faint smile on his face.

0-0-0

I sat in my room waiting for Zuko to return with whatever medical supplies they had on the ship. I lay down on my bed waiting for him. _Was I really injured that badly?_ I asked myself. Before I got into my deep thinking Zuko appeared with a bag of ice and something in a tube.

"Here." He said giving me the tube. I sat up. Apparently it was some ointment that I have to rub around my eye. I squeezed a small amount on my finger times as I started to apply the ointment. I saw Zuko was looking at me.

"Am I really that bad?" I asked him

"What do you mean by bad? Your black eye?" Eh… I've seen worse but yours is pretty bad." He said.

I left out a sigh. "Give me the ice."

He gave the ice to me and I put it on my face as soon as I got it. It was really cold at first but I soon got used to it.

I fell back again so I was lying.

"So what did you think of my mother? Isn't she a nice person?" I said the last part with sarcasm.

"Oh she seems like a very nice person." Zuko said sarcastically.

"Well know you know why I hate her so much." I said.

"Yeah… So anyways how did you get your black eye?" He asked.

"My mother." I simply said.

"Oh…" That was all Zuko said.

"Yeah." I said.

After a couple moments of silence Zuko spoke up. "She reminds me of my father." He said.

"Really?" I asked

"Yeah. Not caring about you at all. Just about his job." He said with venom.

"Hm." I said. "He sounds like a good man." I said sarcastically.

Zuko somewhat laughed. "Yeah." Zuko left out a yawn. "Well I'm tired so I am going to bed. See you later." He said.

Zuko got up but soon leaned over me. I felt my face heat up. He then laid a loving kiss on my forehead and I could tell my face was as red as the Fire nation color.

"Um…you too." I said pulling the covers over my body. "Night." I said.

"Night to you too." Zuko said as he turned off the light in my room and carefully closed the door.

**A/N: Well there is chapter 9! Hope you guys like it its 3,000 + words. My longest chapter yet! Well anyways I hope you guys stay tuned for the next chapter. =). Thank you to Shadowcat98 and itswafflebeach for adding this story to your favorites and thanks to UnperfectButLovingIt and Aelitagirly for putting this story on your story alert! Thanks a bunch guys!**


	10. Pirates

**A/N: Hey guys! So much has happened since I last updated. Steve Jobs and Al Davis (owner of the NFL team The Oakland Raiders) died. Rest In Peace guys. Anyways here is the story!**

I woke up the next morning expecting to be on cloud nine; but I wasn't. There was some crust around my eyes so I wiped it away and threw the gunk on the floor. I groaned as I got out of the warm cozy bed. I went to my dresser and I got new clothes for today as I went up to the control tower.  
>When I arrived there I saw Iroh playing pai sho with some other people.<p>

"Good morning Marissa!" He said with his normal happy voice.

Instead of returning a 'hello' to him I asked him a question "What day is it." I asked.

"It is the 29th of December. Why do you ask?" He asked me in return.

I just shrugged my shoulders. "No reason."

Then Zuko walked angrily through the doors. With anger burning his eyes he walked up to the person that controls the ship.

"What is the meaning of this mutiny? No one told you to change course!" He said yelling angrily.

I heard Iroh speak up "Actually someone did. I assure you its very important prince Zuko."

"Is it something to do with the avatar?" Zuko said sounding a bit excited.

"Nope even more urgent it seems I." Iroh puts his hand on head which is covered with gray hair. "I lost my lotus tile."

"Lotus tile?" Zuko asked with a 'what the heck' tinting the shock.

"It's for his pai sho game Zuko." I said in a bland voice.

Iroh looked over and smiled at me "Correct Marissa. Most people think that the lotus tile is a insignificant but, it is a must need for the unusual strategy I play."

"You changed our course for a stupid lotus tile?" Zuko asked shocked.

"Yeah…He did." I said with no emotion.

"See, you like most people underestimate its value; just give me ten minutes to check the merchants of this port a call. Hopefully they'll have the lotus tile in stock and I can get on with my life." Iroh said calmly.

I looked over to Zuko to only see orange and red come out of his mouth and for that to soon fill up the little room.

"I'm lucky to have such an understanding nephew." Iroh said smiling.

"Please tell me that's sarcasm right there." I said waving away the dark gray smoke.

0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0

It was about noon when we got to the port. Getting off the ship Iroh was in front of me, me following behind Iroh, and Zuko following behind me.

When I got off the ship I looked around only to see Iroh walk off on the other direction to look for the lotus tile. I looked at the shops that surrounded me. Some had food such as cabbages, but a lot of them had junk that I would never buy. I let out a sigh.

I heard a cough behind me. "So… Where do you want to go?" I heard Zuko ask.

"I don't know and I really don't care." I said quickly. "Let's just walk around."

Zuko came beside me and he gave me a quick nod. We went the opposite way of what Iroh went. After a while there was still nothing that interested me here.

"Look at all this worthless junk." Zuko said like he was reading my mind.

I left out a sigh. "Agreed."

I let myself agree to soon. There was a shop up ahead that made necklaces and charm bracelets. I felt myself run up to the shop which was ran by a little chubby woman. I wasn't big into jewelry but something about this stand caught my eye. I looked to see Zuko come up behind me.

"What are you doing?" He asked.

"Shopping….der" I said.

I looked around the little shop. Soon when I thought that there was nothing there something silver seemed to sparkle in the setting sun. It was a plain bracelet but what was neat about it is that you could get charms to put on it. In a couple little boxes next to the bracelet there were little charms that could hook on the bracelet. I looked through each and everyone to find what I was looking for in the last one. It was a light blue color heart with the engraving 'Dad' in it. As soon as I saw it I wanted it. I looked over to Zuko who was watching me like a hawk.

"Hey Zuko…" I started out.

"You want something don't you?" He said. For the second time today I swear he was reading my mind.

I nodded my head and I gave Zuko the best puppy eyes I could muster.

He left out a sigh and I knew my eyes were working.

"Please?" I asked. "Pretty please?" I still have him my puppy eyes.

He walked up to the lady running the stand.

"How much for the bracelet and the charm?" He asked.

" Two bronze pieces." The lady said.

Zuko looked over at me. I mouthed a please and he left out another sigh. I heard Zuko mumble something and the sales woman laughed. He dug into his pocket and pulled out two bronze pieces.

"Thank you have a good day." The lady said smiling.

Zuko walked over to me and handed the bracelet to me.

"Thank you." I said. Right after those words came out of my mouth something seemed to come over me as I hugged Zuko.

"Uh…you're welcome." He said awkwardly his face bright red.

"Can you help me put this on?" I asked.

Zuko gave a nod as I put the charm on the bracelet and handed it to him. He started moving it towards my left wrist.

"No…right one." I said.

Zuko left out a sigh and I smiled. With a _click _the bracelet snapped into place and it looked beautiful.

"Thanks." I quickly said.

"You're welcome. Now since your shopping is over and done with lets go find my uncle. Hopefully he found his tile."

0-0-0-0

When we got to the ship Iroh was standing there. Zuko and I walked over to him.

"I checked all the shops on this pier, not a lotus tile in the entire market place." Iroh said disappointed.

"It's good to know this trip was a complete waste for everyone!" Zuko said angrily.

"Hey it wasn't a waste of time for me." I said.

"It was a waste of my money!" Zuko yelled at me.

"Marissa, what did Zuko get you?" He asked curiously.

I showed him my bracelet and his eyes got wide and soon were filled with joy.

"Your charm it says dad right."

I nodded my head.

He flashed a quick smile at me and I smiled back.

"Still this was a waste of time!" Zuko yelled.

"Quite the contrary. I always say the only thing better than finding you are looking for is something that you weren't looking at a great bargain!"

I looked out to see crew members carrying all the things Iroh bought. I could feel my jaw drop with shock.

"You bought a Tsunghi horn?" Zuko said shocked which brought me out of my shock.

"For music night on the ship. Now, if only we had some woodwinds." Iroh said.

I started to laugh.

Zuko's face was _priceless. _

We were about to leave and set sail when Iroh spotted another ship.

"This one looks promising!" He said with as much excitement as a little kid getting candy.

When we got in the ship there were items stacked on the shelves.

"Ohh that is handsome!" I heard Iroh say. When I saw what he was looking at I couldn't believe it. It was a monkey made out of dark stone which I had blood red ruby's on it. "Wouldn't it look magnificent in the galley?" Iroh asked to no one in particular.

"Sure I guess." I said

I looked around and I soon found some scrolls on the other end of the shop. Soon a person that I assumed worked at the shop came up to me. He was tan and had long black hair and a scrawny body.

"May I help you?" He asked me.

"No." I said in a cold voice trying to push him away.

"You know many girls don't come in here." He said trying to flirt with me.

"Gee I wonder why." I said sarcasm dripping in my voice.

I felt a warm arm snake around my body. And this was the weird man that was trying to seduce me which was not going to happen.

I clenched my right hand into a fist and aimed it where the sun doesn't shine.

The man bit his lips trying to hold back a scream.

"I have a boyfriend." I said which was a complete lie.

I walked over to Zuko as he said "This monk did he have an arrow on his head?"

I was guessing it was the avatar. I felt the stare of the guy that was flirting with me and he was about to tell the man guy who ran the store what I done. He looked at me dead in the eyes. I made a fist and punched it against my left hand which was an open palm and then I pointed at him. His eyes got wide but then I remembered I told him that I had a boyfriend. _Fuck._

Zuko's hand was wide open so I just grabbed it. I felt my face get red as the ruby's that were on the monkey that I saw earlier. I swear I saw Zuko blush a little but he soon flushed it away.

0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0

Soon we were teamed up with the people who ran the store which wasn't good for me. I was stuck to Zuko like I was glued to him.

"Not to mean or anything but why are you clinging to me?" He asked somewhat angrily.

"The one person likes me and was flirting with me earlier in the shop so I punched him where the sun doesn't shine and I told him that I had a boyfriend so you're my boyfriend. Just go along with it."

"Wait a guy was flirting with you?" Zuko hissed. Now he was mad.

"Yeah but as long as I am with you he won't bother me."

Zuko left out a sigh and he soon agreed to my plan. The head person of the shop came up to Zuko and I and he stood beside Zuko.

"Shouldn't we stop and search the woods?" The man asked.

"We don't need to stop. They stole a waterbending scroll right? The man left out an _hmpf._ Then they'll be on the water." Zuko said.

I shutter ran down my spine.

0-0-0-0

The guys who I soon found out where pirates captured katara who was waterbending by the river.

They had her tied to a tree and I felt so bad inside. I knew better to rebel though so I kept quiet.

Zuko soon was circling her. "Now tell me where he is and I won't hurt you or your brother."

"Go jump in a river!" She yelled.

Zuko stopped for a while. "Try to understand. I need to capture him in order to restore something I've lost."

Katara jerked her head away from Zuko; not wanting to look at him.

"Perhaps in exchange, I can restore something you've lost. Zuko held out the very same necklace I found a while back at the earth kingdom prison. I felt so guilty it seemed to pierce my heart.

Katara looked shocked. "My mother's necklace! How did you get that?" She asked.

"I didn't steal it if that's what you're wondering. Tell me where he is." Zuko sneered

"No!" Katara screamed.

The lead pirate spoke up. "Enough of this neck less garbage. You promised a scroll!" He yelled at Zuko.

I saw Zuko pull out the scroll which was filled with waterbending techniques. He held it in one hand as the other one held a small fire.

"Zuko you don't have to do this." I said quietly for only him to hear.

He ignored me. "I wonder how much money this is worth."

All the pirates yelled "No!"

Zuko started talking again. "Now you help me find what I want. You'll get this back and everyone goes home happy. Search the woods for the woods for the boy and meet back here.

The lead pirate said "Fine."

I looked over at Katara and it was like I was controlled by something; I walked over to her.

"I'm sorry." I said quietly.

She didn't say anything at all. I left out a sigh.

"Your brother and the avatar will be fine. Trust me." And with that I walked over to Zuko.

0-0-0

A while later they captured Sokka and the avatar.

"Nice work." Zuko said proudly.

"Aang, this is all my fault." I heard Katara say.

The avatar spoke up "No Katara, it's not."

"Yeah it kind of is." Iroh said not making it better.

Zuko walked up to the pirates "Give me the boy." He said sternly.

"You're really going to hand over the Avatar for a stupid piece of parchment?" I heard Sokka speak up. _He didn't change a bit. _

Zuko was obviously angry. "Don't listen to him! He's trying to turn us against each other."

The Capitan of the pirates turned to Sokka. "Your friend is the Avatar?"

"Sure is, and I'll bet he'll fetch you a lot more on the black market then that fancy scroll." He said persuading them.

I mentally slapped myself. Sokka was an ass.

"Shut your mouth you water tribe peasant!" Zuko yelled.

I felt a knife puncture my heart. That was a low blow.

"Yeah Sokka. You should really shut your mouth…" The Avatar said sternly.

"I'm just saying its bad business sense. Just imagine how much the Fire Lord would pay for the Avatar. You guys would be set for life!" Sokka said.

The pirates thought about it for a while and then spoke up. "Keep the scroll. We can buy 100 with the reward we'll get for the kid.

"You'll regret breaking a deal with me." Zuko said with fire coming out of his fist.

In the commotion I found where Katara was tied to a tree. "Get away from me!" She yelled.

"I'm here to help you." I said before my voice was getting overpowered by the clicks and clangs of swords. I untied her from the tree as she ran off and I followed her.

"Get away from me." She yelled.

"Katara settle down." I heard a man speak up.

I turned around to see Sokka. "Thanks Sokka." I said

"No problem." He said smiling.

"Wait a minute you know her?" Katara asked shocked.

"Yeah she's Marissa. Don't you remember her?" Sokka asked.

Katara looked at me before she came at me with a hug. "I thought I would never see you again." She said.

"Yeah me too." I said.

She started pushing the ship into the water but that was a fail. "Come on guys push!" We all ran over to help her but it was no use.

"Maybe a help of two waterbenders." I looked over to see that the bald monk had said that.

"Three." I said.

They all smiled at me. We got into our positions. Aang and Katara seemed to move their wrist up and down with their hands like you were pulling back the light blue water. I soon got a hold of this even though it was mostly them who did all the work. Soon the ship was on the water and they were gone. I saw them all wave goodbye and me and I returned it.

I went back the fighting scene only to see Zuko and the Capitan still fighting.

"Are you so busy fighting you cannot see that your own ship has set sail?" Iroh yelled.

"We have no times for your proverbs, uncle!" Zuko yelled back.

"It's no proverb!" Iroh said

"Yeah Zuko it isn't!" I yelled.

The Capitan looked shocked and his eyes got big. "Bleeding hog monkeys!" He yelled as he ran after his boat.

I saw Zuko laugh and that was one of the very few times I saw him laugh. His laughing soon stopped. "Hey that's _my _boat!" He yelled as he ran after them.

"Maybe that should be a proverb." Iroh said.

I laughed as we both ran after Zuko who called. "Come on Uncle and Marissa!" As he kept on running.

We soon got to where Zuko was standing; Iroh was panting up a storm.

"My boat!" Zuko yelled.

I heard Iroh laugh. "Hehe Prince Zuko you'll really going to get a kick out of this. The lotus tile was up my sleeve the whole time! He pulls it out wearing a huge smile. I couldn't help but laugh but for Zuko this wasn't a laughing matter.

He snatched the tile and threw it over the falls.

0-0-0-0-0-0

It was nightfall again as we got back to the main boat. I looked up at the sky. There were no stars and not even a moon.

I left out a sigh.

"What are you doing out here?" I heard a voice and a little speckle of fire. I calmed down knowing it was Zuko.

"Just thinking." I said.

"About?" Zuko questioned.

"Life." I said.

I felt my charm that was shaped like a heart with 'dad' engraved on it.

"Why were you in a bitter mood earlier today?" He asked.

I left out a sigh. There was no way I was escaping this one.

"You want to know why I really wanted the bracelet and the charm today."

"It would be nice to know." He said

I bit my bottom lip so hard I felt blood. Tears soon clouded my eyes. I left out another sigh.

"Today two years ago…my father was…." I wiped tears from my eyes. "murdered." I choked out.

Soon tears were falling like there was no tomorrow. I soon felt warm hands around me. Zuko was hugging me and feeling empathy for me. I felt hot tears fall and he didn't care.

"It's okay… I'm here." He said quietly still standing there.

My tears soon soaked his shirt but he didn't care at all. Something about the way he said that he was here and it's okay made me feel a whole lot better. We both stood there until a lone star appeared in the star. I looked up at the star and it twinkled a bit. _I swear it was my dad looking down at me._ I smile soon crept up on me. Today went from worse to bad to good. I just stood there with Zuko because it felt so right.

**A/N: There it is guys! Hope you guys like it! This might be the last one before Halloween so I just want to say Happy Halloween and Trick or Treat! Anyways thank you ****FullMetalSoulReaper and ****ShadowCat98**** for reviewing. Thank you Monster Cookie, ****ShadowCat98**** for putting me on story alert. Thank you Shadowcat98 for putting me on author alert and favorite author. And last but not least thank you ****kage kitsune 14, ****toph12341, and appleattack1 for adding my story to your favorites! **


	11. The Dream

**A/N: Wow its been a long time since I updated. Sorry guys things in school are just going really bad considering I had my ipod stolen and my new Five Finger Death Punch cd. I'm also really stressed with a Social Studies project I have to do. I'm also having some problems on the bus and other things too. This chapter is going to be based on a dream I actually had only with a few changes =)**

What seemed like forever standing with Zuko my eyelids soon became very heavy all the sudden. The pleasant breeze of the cool cold wind wrapped around Zuko and I but Zuko's warmth made it just the right temperature for anybody to fall asleep.

I left out a sigh " I got to go." And with that I slithered away to go to my room.

As soon as I opened my door my bed seemed to call my name. I slowly went over to my dresser to get my pyjamas and moved back at the pace of a turtle. Things were getting all blurry around me and as soon as I hit the soft velvet pillow I was out.

_The weather felt all warm around me. I opened my eyes to be only be in a palace. Not a regular palace the Fire Nation palace. I looked to my right to see Zuko at my side. I felt my self put on a smile. I went out of the room to get pulled over by a guard._

"_Sorry your highness but you have an important meeting at noon."_

"_Thank you." I said with a smile._

_0-0-0-0-0-0-0-_

_When it was noon I got to the meeting room. It had one long table with the best Fire Nation generals and admirals and of course at the end of the table was the Fire Lord…that fire lord was Zuko. The flames surrounding where he sat were bright orange and were extremely hot. I could feel myself almost sweating._

"_Thank you all for coming here." Said Zuko " Sorry this was last minute everyone but with the Fire Nation controlling every part of the world we have some very important things to discuss."_

_Admiral Cheng your report?" Zuko asked._

"_Things in Ba Sing Se are doing well. No one is rebelling against us at all. There is a small problem though.. Earthbenders are trying to get their numbers up and may be forming a rebellion against us. We have almost all the men though everywhere else in the world and I was wondering if Marissa would sign off that women would be able to join the army and to help the Fire Nation."_

_I looked at him; more like __**glared**__ at him. I hated being the center of attention. I left out a sigh. "Yeah sure I guess." _

_He handed me a piece of paper saying everything he just said only without the mass amount of details on it. He then handed me a pen for me to sign it._

_All the sudden I felt angry. "This isn't my pen! Get me a new one…NOW!" I yelled. I could tell that everyone was looking at me. After the anger outburst I regained myself. I left out heavy sigh. "Terribly sorry." I took the same pen that I got angry with and signed my name in black ink on the document. I looked up to Zuko. I already had other plans to do then to sit in a meeting._

"_May I go now? I have better things to do." I gave him this with a sour tone._

"_Yes you may." He said._

_I walked out of the meeting. What I had planned today was to go see my mother. She hated me and I hated her so I don't know why she wanted to see me. She sent me letters everyday when I got them they said the same thing. "Please come see me my daughter. I have something important to tell you. I didn't want to go but Zuko forced me to go. _

_I walked out of the palace to go into the city. My mother now becoming of age retired from being a general and lived in a small nice apartment but was still the mean sadistic person she was years ago. _

_My mother's age had especially shown. Her black hair now was a dull gray and her color in her amber eyes were fading. She had more wrinkles then ever before and I was surprised she wasn't dead yet. I knocked on the door. After the first knock my mother appeared. "Oh my darling you came!" She said happily. I knew she was faking being happy to see me. She was happy seeing other people suffer and that was about it._

"_Tell me what you think is so important." I spat. _

_She plastered a smile on her face. "Oh that? I forgot about what I was going to tell you." _

_I felt anger boil in my blood. "You're a liar." I said through my teeth. "Now tell me why I am here."_

"_My precious daughter. I know we had our ups and downs. I knew the minute I had you that you would become something more then just a regular person. You see from your father being from the water tribe and me being from the fire nation I wanted to try something. I wanted you to become a double bender."_

"_Sorry your little dream didn't come true." I said sarcastically. _

_She left out a loud laugh. "Oh, really? That is where you are wrong Marissa. You are a double bender; a water bender and a fire bender." My mother's eyes lit up when she said fire bender._

"_I'm no fire bender! I have never been able to create fire on my own! A fire bender can do that. I can't generate lighting and a skilled fire bender can do that. Last time I checked I couldn't do any of that!" I yelled._

_My mother looked at me. "Well my darling. You are you just haven't discovered that yet."_

"_So is this what you wanted to tell me…That I was a double bender all along?" I couldn't believe I sounded a bit hurt that all these years I didn't know._

"_Somewhat. That wasn't the most important part though." She finished this with a snicker._

"_Then tell me." I managed to tell through my teeth._

"_You are destine to destroy the world." Her smiled reached cheek from cheek._

_I couldn't believe it. My destiny….was to destroy the world. A shutter ran down my spine._

"_Goodbye mother." With that I walked out the door._

_0-0-0-0-0-_

_A couple weeks later I was out of the palace shopping. A market filled with foods and other things and it was today was a slow business day. The streets weren't over run by shoppers and the plaza wasn't crowed. I saw a figure in the shadows in an alley way. This somewhat frightened me. I knew there were secret rebellions going on and this person could be one of them. I kept my eye in the dark alley way. Ever so slowly I went towards the alley when a little boy rushed in front of me and pulled the figure out of the shadows. It was a girl around my age with a black cloak around her and her hood up; obliviously she didn't want to be seen. She had these hazel eyes that were like mine. In every single way she was like a mirror of me. The boy spoke to the girl. "Come on! Come out of the shadows!"_

"_No" Came the cold response of the girl._

_The sound of that voice sounded like mine._

"_Come on! Come and have some fun!" The boy said again._

"_No" was the response again._

"_Come on! Come on and live your life and don't live in the shadows!" The boy said now trying harder to pull the girl out._

_I was shocked of what I saw next. The girl said No again but this time screamed it. Her eyes became a bright red. The little boy got amber eyes got wide with shock and ran away. "Leave me alone!" She yelled. A black mass was forming around her. When it hit a nearby merchant what ever the black thing was it burned down the stand. This girl was a fire bender with black fire. Soon there was black fire around her; almost engulfing her. Soon the fire went up to light blue sky and came down like a wave. My eyes became wide as an owls. Soon I was surrounded my pitch blackness. I opened my eyes not really wanting to. My jaw dropped when I saw the destruction of the fire. Everything was burned down to rubble. I saw everyone that was at the market dead with severe burn marks everywhere. I looked around to only see one person standing. It was the girl who caused this. I marched up to her anger filling my steps._

"_Look at what you did! You killed all this people!" I yelled at this girl._

_The girl looked down for a second then looked me straight in the eye. I felt my eyes widen. This girl looked like she could be my identical twin. She looked at me with sorrow in her eyes. I actually felt bad for her now._

_She spoke with a shy low voice. "No I didn't…you did."_

_I studied the girl thinking she was joking but her face showed no sign of it…only sorrow and a serious look. _

"_What…..What the hell do you mean!" I looked at her my voice in a state of shock. _

_She left out a sigh. "I am you… You are me…You did this. Your mother was right." After saying that a dark gray cloud came over and separated us making it impossible to see. _

"_No! Come back!" I yelled. I pushed my way through the clouds to only see another person. This person wasn't the girl. It was my mother._

_She didn't turn to look at me. She was dressed in a red fire nation dress. "Well, well, well. I told you so my precious." I heard laughter and then she was gone._

I woke up with a gasp. My heart was pounding at what seemed to be the speed of light. I left out a shaky sigh. _It was just a dream…it was just a dream _I said in my mind. I placed a shaky foot on the ground symbolizing that my whole body was shaking from shock. I walked slowly to the bathroom to take a relaxing bath. When I was in the tub I wondered if my dream was true. If me ending the world was really my destiny. I shook my head. I knew that dreams were fake and would never come true. I got out of the tub and put on my everyday clothes. I went above deck to see a bright sun. The first thing I saw was Iroh.

"Good morning Marissa! You know it is almost 11:30? I hope you had a good nights sleep…._blah blah blah_…. I couldn't help but to think about my dream. I tuned Iroh completely out.

"Oh yeah….Nice story. I got to go." I said quickly not knowing if Iroh was really telling a story or not.

0-0-0-0-0-0-0

The day was all a blur to me. Night arrived quickly and this gave me the time to be by myself. I went to the deck of the ship and played with the water surrounding the ship. The dark blue water actually seemed to calm me down a bit.

"There you are!" I heard a voice. I got startled and jump losing my water. I whipped around to see Zuko standing there.

"Sorry." I quickly said.

"Where were you all day?" He asked.

"Sleeping and staying in my room." I said quickly. I did not want to have this conversation.

"Something is bothering you…isn't it?" He said

Did he read a book on how to read a girl or something? I left out a sigh.

"Yes…something is bothering me…but that doesn't mean I want to share it."

Zuko huffed. "Come on you told me your whole life. I'm sure this won't hurt a bit." Damn he was stubborn as a mule.

He came towards me now and I looked away. "Maybe I don't know myself."

I felt his eyes lock on me. "What the hell do you mean? You don't know yourself? That's bull shit!"

I felt tears come. "Its stupid…" I sniffled. "It was a dream….a dream where my destiny was to end the world."

I looked at Zuko to see his eyes soften. "Its okay… I'm sorry for getting mad at you earlier."

I left out a sigh "Its okay…" I looked at the sky to see the full moon and a mist somewhat hugging the moon.

"You don't have to hid your emotions." Zuko said after moments of silence.

"I choose to though." I said coldly.

I soon felt warm hands cup my face. "Let me change that." Zuko slowly leaned in and soon closed the gap between us. The kiss was a very passionate one. No hardcore French kissing one…it seemed like the perfect one. I could even feel sparks like fireworks when we were kissing. Soon he broke away.

"Does that help?" He asked smiling.

I couldn't help but smile back. "Yes…it does."

He leaned down again and pressed his lips against mine and hugged my waist. What a perfect end for a terrible beginning.

**A/N: OMG it is done! Sorry it took so long I think I would have had it up on Halloween but since we got a snow storm…Yes I did just say SNOW STORM over the weekend we had no internet or power for about a day and I forgot about it. Anyways thank you sarahwolfgirl20 and ANIMEFAN246 for putting me on story alert. Thank you Cortz for adding my story to your favorites. And last but not least thank you FullMetalSoulReaper and Shadowcat98 for reviewing! For the dream scene I did actually have my self tell me that I was I would end the world…creepy right? **


	12. The Storm

**A/N: OMG I'm so sorry I haven't updated in a while! I've been super busy with school and other things I haven't got the chance to even write anything. Since I forgot to say this Happy Thanksgiving and Merry Christmas! **

My eyes slowly opened into the dark room. I did my morning routine. Then I just threw my hair up in a pony tail. I groaned, I could just feel this was going to be a long day.

I went above deck where I saw Iroh and Zuko. I could feel my face when my eyes landed on Zuko. I mentally slapped myself. Then Iroh turned around and his eyes lit up and he smiled.

"Ah Marissa, about time you got up." Iroh said happily.

After hearing my name, Zuko turned around. His eyes widened and his face turned a light red. Zuko then turned around like he didn't blush. I silently laughed in my head. Then Iroh suddenly said something.

"There is a storm coming." He then paused. "A big one."

I looked to the sky and there were no clouds in sight. The light blue color dominated the sky and not a speckle of white filled the blue sky.

"Your out of your mind uncle. The weathers perfect. There's not a cloud in sight." Zuko stated.

For once, I had to agree with Zuko on this.

"A storm is approaching from the North. I suggest we alter our course and head south-west."

"The avatar is traveling northward so we must do the same."

I let out a sigh.

"Prince Zuko, consider the safety of the crew."

"The safety of the crew doesn't matter!" Zuko yelled.

I felt my eyes grow cold when he said that. _I thought he cared about me… _I thought. Zuko then turned around and made eye contact with me. I held my cold gaze at him and he gave his right back. He then opened the door that lead to the bottom of the ship and slammed it with a shut.

" He doesn't mean that. He's just worked up about everything." Iroh said trying to cool me off.

I left out a caustic remark "Is that going to be your remark for everything?" I asked. Then I left through the same door as Zuko did moments before and walked to my room.

_I thought he cared about me… I guess I was wrong. _My head started to ache. _Happy thoughts, Marissa, happy thoughts. HA! Who was I kidding I had no happy thoughts. _I left out a sigh. My eyes fell to the floor watching my feet move. _Why me? _I asked myself. Then I ran into something…or someone.

"Hey watch it!" I yelled not caring how I ran into.

"Maybe you should watch it!" The person yelled back. I knew the voice though…. It was Zuko…_Great. _

I gave him a glare and tried moving past him, but Zuko wouldn't let me.

"Can I go?" I asked.

"No." He answered.

I crossed my arms. " And why can't I." I said in an emotionless voice.

"We need to talk." He said

_I hated these four words…. What the hell do we have to talk about? _

"About?"

"What I said up on the deck…" He said. His voice sounding guilty.

I looked him in the eyes. His amber eyes were full of sadness and had a pleading look to them.

"You better be sorry." I said in a bitter voice.

" I am… Very sorry." He said.

" I accept your apology…" I said to him breaking the eye contact we had.

"Thank you." He said with joy in his voice. "Now lets go to the dock and see what's going on." He said and then looked at me with a smile… I couldn't help but to smile back.

0-0-0-0-0-0

When Zuko and I arrived on the deck the first thing I noticed was the sky. Instead of the calming light blue it was a while before now it was gray and the huge clouds littered the sky. The wind even picked up a bit.

Some of the crew members were out. The one member looked at us. He had short gray hair and gray sideburns.

"Looks like your uncle was right about the storm." He said to Zuko.

My head whipped to Iroh. "Lucky guess." He said quickly.

"Lieutenant, you better learn some respect." And with that Zuko walked up the older man. " Or I will teach it to you." He said.

The older man spoke up. "What do you know about respect? The way you talk to everyone around here. From your hard working crew and your esteemed uncle shows you nothing about respect. You don't care about anybody but yourself. But then what do I expect from a spoiled rotten prince?" He sneered.

I could tell that set Zuko off. I could tell his jaw was clenched together. You don't make a person pissed off when they are hot-headed. Then all the sudden Zuko got into an Agni Kai pose. The lieutenant did the same thing and there arms met and steam was coming from where they touched.

Iroh soon came and broke them up. "Enough! We all are a bit tired from being at sea for so long. I'm sure after a bowl of noodles everyone will feel much better."

Zuko still angry about what just happened said "I don't need your help keeping order on my ship!"

Iroh tried to comfort Zuko by putting a hand on his shoulder but he shook it off angrily. Then he walked away from Iroh.

I left out a sigh. " Someone's bipolar." I whispered under my breath.

Iroh looked at me and gave me a raised eyebrow. "Well its true!" I yelled.

And with that I walked away from Iroh and went to my bedroom.

0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0

I sat on my bed. Just thinking about what happened today. I let out a sigh. _I knew it was going to be a long day. _And boy, was I right. I then laid back on my bed. I wasn't tired so I wouldn't sleep and I really didn't want to just lie here but there's not much to do on a ship. I left out another sigh. Then all the sudden I was thrown out of my bed and was flung to the floor. I let out a groan. _What was going on? _I fast walked out of my room to get the dock where I was what exactly was going on. Fat, heavy rain was pouring out of the sky and the gray clouds where everywhere you looked. The ship shook violently back and forth. The first person I went to was Zuko.

"What's going on?" I yelled.

"The storm its" Zuko never got to finish that sentence. The sky rumbled and then a flash of lighting hit the tower.

"Where were we hit?" Zuko asked to the crew member standing near him." I don't know." He said back with a worried voice.

Iroh then yelled "Look!"

Where the tower was hit there was a guy hanging onto the ladder for dear life. _The Helmsman! _Before I could even act Zuko and the crew member went after the guy on the ladder. The ship still shook violently back and forth, The dark blue waves crashed against with the boat with so much force I went flying across the dock. In an effort to break my fall I held my hands out hoping to catch myself. That was a stupid choice I made. As soon as I caught myself I felt my left wrist snap. _Shit. _I quickly got up and tried to ignore the pain that was shooting up my left arm. I bit my lip. I knew it was ether a really bad sprain or it was broken. The storm was bad and then another flash of lightning came and was about to hit the ship. Iroh got into a pose I never saw before. Right before the lightning hit the ship he redirected the bright, yellow lightning away from the ship. I felt my eyes go wide. I never saw such a thing. After I got over my shock I looked towards the tower in the pouring rain. The helmsman was holding on for his life and Zuko was right below him. Then with another boom of thunder the helmsman fell. I held my breath. It seemed like hours but really it was only seconds before Zuko caught him. I couldn't help to smile. Soon all three of the men were off of the tower. Everybody was safe and I couldn't control myself. I ran up to Zuko and gave him a hug and buried my face in his chest. I could tell Zuko was blushing but I didn't care. I didn't notice but Zuko saw the avatar and his bison in the dark gray sky.

"The avatar. " Zuko said.

"What do you want us to do?" Asked the lieutenant.

"Let him go…" Zuko paused for a brief second. "We need to get this ship to safety."

I smiled. _He did care. _

"Then we must go to the eye of the storm." Iroh said

0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0

It was soon night. Over the day's event I haven't noticed my left wrist that I fell on. I crawled into the bed and my wrist hurt; like really bad. I bit my lip. I knew it was broken. Every little thing I did made it hurt like someone just stabbed my wrist. I knew my healing abilities were not that skilled to heal myself. I left out a sigh. I knew I had to tell someone. And that someone was Zuko. I slowly got out of my bed and walked out of my room, praying that Zuko was in his room. I walked down the dark hallway and finally reached Zuko's room. I knocked with my right hand. I waited for a while and then he appeared.

"May I help you?" He asked.

I bit my lip. "Um….yeah. I think I have a broken wrist so I was wondering if you could take me the doctor on this ship if there is anyone and wrap it for me." I looked him in the eye and his eyes did the same thing. I felt butterflies flutter around in my stomach like there was no tomorrow.

Zuko left out a yawn and replied "Sure."

He walked out of his room and I noticed he was in his pj's. Which means he was shirtless. I felt myself get hot. He lead me down the hall and took a couple turns and arrived at a door.

He walked in and lit the torches on the wall of the room. The room lit up with the doctor things I haven't seen before. Zuko walked to a drawer and opened it and got a red wrap to wrap the wrist in. He pointed to the gray table that was in the middle of the room. I went to the table and sat on it. Zuko then came over.

"What wrist is it?" He asked.

"Left." I said quietly.

He slowly wrapped my wrist. It hurt badly when he touched it but I stayed strong. Before I knew it, it was over. I smiled and looked at the wrap on my wrist. I have to say Zuko did a good job.

"Thanks." I said and gave him a smile.

"Your welcome." He said and returned the smile.

I then got off the table and gave him a hug and soon I was engulfed by his warm arms. After a while I broke the hug and he cupped my cheek. He leaned closer and soon our lips met. It was just as good as the first one. When the kiss was over I couldn't help but smile.

"Sorry for being bi polar today." Zuko said.

I couldn't help but laugh.

"Now." Zuko paused for a yawn. "Lets go to sleep."

All I could was to nod my head as Zuko walked me to my room. He gave me a quick peck and said goodnight and walked off to his room. I walked into my room and crawled under the covers and went to dreamland.

**A/N: OMG its finished! Yay! So sorry for the long wait! Anyways thank you **HecatetheDarkWitch, Sarcastic Princess, supersta126, and Crystal-Wolf-Guardain-967

For adding this story to your favorites. Also big thanks to Karma of the Fire Nation, tmjay10, and Crystal-Wolf-Guardain-967 for reviewing my story. Thank you Glittering-Red-Rose, supersta126, tmjay10, and Crystal-Wolf-Guardain-967 for adding my story to your story subscription. And thank you Crystal-Wolf-Guardain-967 for adding me to your favorite author's and your author alert. =)


	13. Awkward

**A/N: So sorry! I didn't forget about this I've just been so busy! I turned a year older last time I updated =). And anyway for this chapter this was going to be the Blue Spirit chapter but every time I would write down the script for it, it would disappear somehow! Sorry guys! Short chapter. Did any of you guys see Korra? Mako 3**

I looked at my broken wrist. I let out a sigh. _How am I suppose to waterbend?_ I started to pick at the bandage until there was a knock at the door.

"Who is it?" I yelled.

The voice responded, "It's the doctor and Zuko."

_Zuko…_ Insensately the butterflies were in my stomach. _Okay, so maybe I do like Zuko… Wait….Did I really just say that? Wait, am I really fighting with myself? Dear god, I'm going officially nuts. _After managing to stop the conversation with myself I finally said "Oh, come in."

The doctor appeared first and followed by him was Zuko. Insensately my eyes locked with Zuko's. I could feel like my face was starting to get red as fire but it was hard to look away. Finally Zuko looked away and left out a cough.

"So…" I started out. "What your you two doing here?" I asked.

The doctor was the first to speak, "We are seeing if your arm is healed enough to cut the cast off."

I knew the instant he said that a smile appeared on my face. "Really?" I asked.

The doctor just smiled and nodded his head. I looked at Zuko and even though he didn't like to smile, let alone be happy, there was a small and barely noticeable smile on his face as well. Then I felt a sharp movement on my wrist.

"Sorry." Huffed the doctor. "Now I need you to tell me when I twist your wrist if you feel pain, okay? Even if it is the slightest ounce of pain you need to tell me. Do you understand?

"Yes." Then I looked at my wrist. The doctor slowly started twisting it to the left. "Do you feel any pain?"

I shook my head and then he proceeded to twisting my wrist to the right. I felt like someone was stabbing my wrist.

"OW!" I yelled "Stop!" I clenched my jaw. The doctor insensately stopped twisting my wrist. "Well, I'm sorry to say this Marissa but you got to wear the cast for about another week or two. The left side seems to be fine but the right side doesn't."

I let out a sigh. _Well this is great…Wonderful….Perfect… This just brightens up my day._

"I got to go back to my office now. In two weeks I'll see you again and we can take off your cast." The doctor said.

"K." I said angrily.

Just like that the doctor was gone leaving only Zuko and I in the room.

"You're a terrible doctor." I said laughing.

Zuko looked at me shocked and said "What?"

I laughed "You were the one who wrapped my wrist."

Zuko looked at me angrily "So?"

I gave him a blank stare and said "So you did badly on wrapping my wrist."

"I did not!" Zuko yelled. _Oh crap…_

"Whoa, Chill out. It was a joke!" I said.

I could tell Zuko was embarrassed by this greatly. He started scratching the back of his hair and his face was so red. "Well..I…I didn't know!" He yelled.

"Zuko." I let out a little laugh. "Its okay,"

"Well…If you say so." Zuko let out a little smile.

I did something so strange next. I walked over to where Zuko was standing and said "You're the best."

I could feel Zuko tense up at first and then he replied "Er….If you say so… And I mean….Your not bad yourself…. I mean like you're the best to….I mean for a girl…For you at least." I laughed and I had to admit I _love_ when Zuko tries to say things but the words come out wrong. The next thing I remember is that Zuko's lips were against mine. I felt like we were in heaven until I heard a gasp that was neither mine or Zuko's. We both quickly pulled apart and looked toward the direction of the gasp.

I could feel my eyes go wide to see Iroh there. _Shit, Shit, Shit, Shit_. I thought. The look on Iroh's face though was priceless. His golden eyes were huge and his jaw was wide open. I could feel myself blushing and knowing Zuko he was probably too.

"Uncle!" Zuko yelled. "What are you doing? How long where you there for? Did you know there is such thing as privacy!" I just kept quiet…. This was just so embarrassing.

Iroh just stood there for another couple seconds until he started bursting out laughing.

I just stood there thinking…. _What the fuck is wrong with this guy? _

"Uncle….Please explain to me what you are doing." Zuko said in a bitter tone ending it with a growl.

"Zuko, my nephew, and Marissa kissing? The heavens….THEY HAVE SPOKEN!" Yelled Iroh. Then Iroh walked over to us and gave us both a hug.

"Um….." I said.

Zuko was just giving his uncle a glare… If only looks could kill.

"I knew it! I knew it! I knew there was something fishy going between you two! And I finally know what it is! You guys like each other!" Iroh said excitedly.

I swear I heard Iroh squeal as he ran out of the room. Zuko and I then looked at each other and gave the "What the Fuck just happened" look.

0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0

I was jolted out of bed. I looked at my hands and I noticed that they were sweating and I was shaking.

_Damn nightmares_ I thought.

It was the same one I was having for a while now. The one that I was a fire bender and I was destined to destroy the world. I let out a sigh.

_It's just a dream. It's just a dream. It's just a dream_. I kept repeating that mantra to myself. I mean if I was a fire bender I would know by know right? _Maybe it's triggered by something_. I let out a sigh. There it goes. This voice in my head was talking to me again. I don't know why but I do know one thing; that its annoying.

"Go away. It's not triggered by anything…It's a dream."

_You never know. _Said the voice.

I let out an annoyed sigh. "Dreams are just visions of the mind. They are not real. They are just the most random thoughts all put into one."

_Then why do you keep having dreams about your past then?_

"You know what? You whatever you are just shut up? Okay? Just leave me alone you're not helping this situation."

Sometimes I think I'm just going crazy. I let out a sigh. I decided to close my eyes and go back to sleep.

0-0-0-0

Sleep didn't last very long for me and I woke up gasping for air. It was the same dream… But this time I killed a child… I remember her screaming. The strange thing though is that I never saw this child. She had brown hair and amber eyes… Oh my god…. Was that suppose to be my child of Zuko and I? I let out a sarcastic laugh.. No, my god no. That wasn't possible. I cursed myself for even thinking that thought. I let out another sigh and once again I tried going back to sleep.

0-0-0

I woke up screaming "NO!" My breathing was fast and I was visibly shaking. Why all the sudden these nightmares? I decided to walk around the ship and see if it was early enough to get up. I went outside only to be in complete shock. It was pitch black outside. Well this is just great… One thing I knew that helped me when I was little when I had nightmares was sleeping with my parents…But I didn't have my parents now… I let out a sigh. I considered going back to sleep again but I knew I would just have a night filled with nightmares. I let out a sigh. Once choice…. _Zuko. _

I walked to Zuko's room and I really began regretting my decision. _Come on you know you want to. _Oh great so now this voice is going to talk to me again.

I slowly lifted my hand and began knocking on his door. I stood there freighted. Would he be mad at me? Would he scream at me? I heard the door clicked and there stood Zuko.

"What do you want?" He said tiredly rubbing his eyes.

"I had nightmares…." I said.

"And what do you want me to do about it?' He asked me slightly getting annoyed.

I let out a sigh. "Well I was wondering if please pretty please if I could sleep with you? Please I know it sounds awkward or you can come back to my room and just stay there til I fall asleep." I then felt the tears coming. "I just don't want to have another nightmare…" I trailed off after then and I looked at Zuko his face emotionless.

Zuko let out a sigh. "Come in I guess." He said it in an awkward way… I found his bed by using my shin to guide me in the dark and I soon crawled into it. At first Zuko didn't join me.

"I'm sorry Zuko…" I started out " I already had three nightmares and I don't want to get another one."

I could feel Zuko was just staring at me. It seemed like hours until he let out "It's okay. But just this one night. I don't like being disturbed."

Then I could feel the bed move and Zuko was in bed with me. I could feel my face get warm. I wondered if he was nervous too.

"Well… Goodnight." I said and rolled over so my back was facing him.

"Night." He let out with a sigh.

For the first time that night I had no nightmares.

~Zuko's POV~

I woke up in the morning only to feel something against me. I was wondering who or what it was but then I remembered I let Marissa sleep with me last night. I looked down and saw her cuddled up to my chest with her face. I felt awkward but then I realized that my arm was around her. I felt my face turn red. I looked down at Marissa and she looked so peaceful. I could feel a smile coming on. For once I actually liked a morning.

**A/N: It is over! I like this chapter a lot… I think it's cute.. ^-^. Thank you Shadowcat98 and EmpressVicky for reviewing. Also thank you EmpressVicky, **

**For putting me on author alert and story alert, and for putting me and this story on your favorite story and author alert. Thank you! Thank you .Rarw,**

**MSkitty543921, cornontheaub, Zororenjuloverm and safire for putting this on your story alert. And thank you Zyophia Clari, cornontheaub, safire0172, darj chocolate thunda, and AlmaLucia for adding this to your favorite story! Thank you guys so much =). I promise the wait for the next chapter won't be as long! **


	14. The Blue Spirit

**A/N: See you guys the wait wasn't that long now was it? Anyways are you guys on summer vacation?**

Marissa's POV~

I opened my eyes to unravel a room that didn't look anything like mine. _Oh my god where-_ Then I remembered what happened between Zuko and I last night. I felt my face get warm at just the thought of it. Speaking of Zuko I wondered where he was: he wasn't next to me. _Hmm that's strange. _I figured he was up already, so I drugged my body off the bed. _The morning is so evil. _I rubbed my eyes and walked to my room to get dressed and to get the day started. After I got dressed I probably figured Zuko was up in the bell tower. When I got to the bell tower I was right… Zuko was up here.

I walked over to Zuko even though he was talking to some other guy.

"Hey Zukoooo" My voice seemed to end in a yawn.

"Hey" Zuko was short with me today. _Must be something important._

"We haven't been able to pick up the avatar's trail since the storm but if we continue heading north-east" The man said.

Zuko was about to open his mouth but then a huge ship appeared to the side making the whole room dark.

" What do they want?" Zuko asked angrily but to no one in particular.

Then I heard Iroh speak up "Perhaps a sporting game of pai sho!" I just had to laugh at this. _If only that was true._

Soon there was a quick knock at the door and a couple other guards from the other ship appeared. There were about four men and one of the men had a poster in his hand of the avatar, Aang.

"The hunt for the avatar has been given prime importance. All information regarding the avatar must be given to admiral Zhao." The man reported

"Zhao has been promoted?" Iroh said, then he left out a chuckle. "Well good for him!"

_I don't know how that's supposed to be a good thing but…. _

Zuko let out a sigh and crossed his arms. "I've got nothing to report to admiral Zhao. Now, get off my ship and let us pass."

"Admiral Zhao is not allowing ships in our out of this area…" The guard from the other ship stated.

"Of my ship!" Zuko yelled. The guards looked shocked for a moment and then they left the ship. I looked over at Zuko. His arms were still crossed and he looked angrily at the ground. I let out a sigh.

"Zuko…" I started out. Zuko then lifted his gaze from the ground to me and his eyes seemed to answer 'what?' "Are you okay?" I asked. Zuko just simply let out a heavy angry sigh and walked out the door slamming it behind him. Now it was my turn to let out a sigh. _Men…. _

_0-0-0-0-0_

About an hour has passed and no man was getting bossed around by Zuko. _Well that's strange_. I went out onto the deck of the ship where I found Zuko shooting off fireballs and fire streams like there was no tomorrow. I let out a sigh because this means he was usually angry and plus this was going on for about an hour so it can't be good. I just looked at Zuko. I mean I understand that the avatar is important to him but never this important.

"Everything alright, Marissa?" I jumped at the sound of my name but I quickly calmed myself after figuring it out that it was Iroh.

"I'm just worried about Zuko… He was fire bending like this for like an hour."

I heard Iroh let out a sigh. "I know Marissa, I know. Shall we go talk to him?"

I felt a smile tug at the sides and I just nodded my head yes. Iroh and I both walked to Zuko. _I wonder what's bugging him…_

Iroh was the first to speak, "Is everything okay? It's been almost an hour since you gave the men any orders."

"I don't care what they do" Zuko responded.

I let out a sigh. "Zuko… is what the men said earlier today about Zhao and the avatar bugging you?" I asked.

"Zuko don't give up hope… You can find the avatar before Zhao does…" Iroh said after me.

"How though? With Zhao's resources it's only a matter of time before he find the avatar. My honor, my throne, my country… I'm about to loose them all." Zuko said turning his back away from us and looking out to sea. I had to admit I felt bad for Zuko. The one thing that gave him hope was slowly going away from him. I felt Iroh's gaze on me and just by the look on his eyes he wanted me to go talk to Zuko. I just simply gave him a nod and he walked away. I walked over to Zuko.

"I'm sorry." I started out.

Zuko was silent for a bit. "I just don't know what to do." He said quietly.

I placed my hand on his shoulder. "Yes you will, Zuko. I know you can because you always do." I forced myself to smile. _Could he really do it? _

Zuko let out a sigh. " I guess…" He said in a monotone voice.

"Now, go back to one thing you do best, bossing your men around." I said ending it with a real smile.

Zuko turned around and looked at me. He still had a stern look in his face but he relaxed a tiny bit. "Okay, will do." He said ending with a tiny, barely visible smile. I let out a big smile myself.

**The next day…**

I was in my bed sound asleep until I heard a knock at the door. I groaned and I rolled over to right side and pulled the blanket over my head… _Maybe if I keep silent they'll go away. _The knocking continued until I finally snapped.

"What the hell do you want? It's the morning and I'm sleeping!" I yelled and let out a groan of digust after that.

I heard the knob of the door click and I shot straight up. _Who is coming in my room? _I looked at the door and my heart raced. The person who knocked reveled itself to be Iroh. I let out a sigh of relief.

"Sorry to bother you, Marissa I just needed to ask you something…" Iroh paused for a moment and let out a deep breath. "Have you've seen Zuko lately? I haven't seen him all this morning."

I shook my head no. " I didn't know he was gone…"

Iroh let out a sigh. "Oh I was just wondering… You too just spend a lot of time together I thought he would tell you where he would go…" Iroh said

I rubbed my eyes and I wanted desperately to just go back to sleep. "Well should I go look for him or should I just wait here."

"Well I think you should go look for him… I would look for himself but I can't leave because I got a very important date with breakfast and pia sho!"

I let out a tiny laugh. "Okay I will."

"Thank you so much." Iroh said ending it with a smile.

Iroh shut the door and I flopped down on the bed… _Great… Now if I was Zuko where would I be? _

I walked over to my dresser to get changed and took my bracelet off. I did not need that to be lost. I let out a yawn as I put my hair into a low pony tail. I did a quick check in the mirror and I was off.

Now, when I was in the southern water tribe I did some tracking of animals but nothing like this. Plus tracking in the snow was easier because of the tracks being more visible. I let out a sigh as the green forest engulfed me into it. I looked for tracks on the ground and some marking on trees but I found nothing. _Oh well this is just great you know? Just let a girl wonder in the woods alone with wild, viscous animals and maybe some creepers. _I was busy and lost in my mind that I didn't notice the branch in front of me. I saw a flash of green and brown and the next thing I remembered I was in a bush.

"Blargh! Yuck! Ew!" I spat out some dirt and some twigs that I collected in my mouth during my fall. I stood up and brushed most of the dirt off my body and ran my fingers through my hair to get twigs and such things out. _Okay, Marissa no more daydreaming. You don't need that to happen again. _I let out a sigh. Just then I heard I voice.

"You think that someday we can be friends?" It was a young boy's voice.

The voice was in front of me so I quietly crouched down and moved slowly towards the voice. Things got silent for a bit until I saw a blast of fire. I quickly went to a lying down position. _Oh god, oh god, oh god, oh god. _A whole jumble of things went through my mind and my heart raced. Above me I heard tree leaves rattle and shake and their appeared to be a figure jumping from tree to tree. I slowly got up to make sure I kept quiet and as my head appeared over the bushes I saw a man standing in the a small clearing in the forest.

At first I thought I would have to fight this guy because he looked like no one I saw before. Dressed in head to toe wearing a black suit and no hair showing. Just then I saw something; a facial scar. As soon as I saw the scar I knew who this man was…Zuko. I came out of the bushes and he quickly shot fire at me. I moved to my left to dodge the fire. "Chill Zuko, its me." I said. "So this is where you were during the night, huh?" Zuko just looked at the ground and let out a sigh."Yes…" he answered sheepishly.

"Tsk tsk, men. Well you better get back to the ship and change before your uncle gets more worried about you."

Zuko looked at me with shock "He already knows?"

I nodded my head.

"Shit…" Zuko muttered under his breath.

"So who was the boy that was jumping in the trees?" I asked.

Zuko's amber eyes narrowed. "The avatar."

"Oh." That's all I could say. _What did Zuko do last night? And why was he dressed like this?_

"What happened to you?" Zuko asked.

I smiled sheepishly. "I tripped over a twig…"

Zuko just looked at me and just simply said "Wow."

0-0-0-0-0

It didn't take us long to get back to the ship but when we got back Iroh was waiting for us.

"Where have you been prince Zuko? You missed music night! Lieutenant G sang a stirring love song!"

Zuko simply walked past him not even bothering to look at him "I'm going to bed. No disturbances." and with that Zuko sauntered away to his room.

"So where was Zuko?" Iroh questioned me.

"He was in the woods."

Iroh laughed a little. "I think you should take a bath. Did you fall or something you are covered in dirt."

I laughed a bit myself at this. "Yes I did… I tripped over a twig. And yes I am going to go get a bath so don't worry."

When I got out of the shower I couldn't help thinking why Zuko was in the woods with the avatar. Something just didn't make sense here. I let out a shrug. _Men._

**A/N: It's finally done! Whoot whoot! Anyways thank you NerdyButCool, Twiheartlover, Silentstorm1999, Zororenjilover, iluvpyros, DsGirl71 for reviewing this. Thanks, NerdyButCool, Twiheartlover, Zororenjilover, ilovpryos, Booksfan101, lillies102, and DsGirl71 for adding this story to their favorites. And lastly this people put me on story alert: SilentStorm1999, vampireluver96, Booksfan101, vilf, DsGirl71, and Xxxkimmie. I am now officially on summer break so updates should be sooner! Hey guys if anyone has a tumblr they should follow me! I made a blog! =) **


	15. Oh, hey Avatar! Again

**A/N: Guys…Summer is almost over! D= but I promise I'll kick it my writing into overtime as long as I get reviews and such. Anyways here is chapter 15. Enjoy.**

It's been at least a week since I found Zuko in the woods. To this day, I still don't know what he was doing because he has simply ignored me whenever I would ask that question. Meanwhile, today is a very special day for me. I finally am getting this cast off my wrist. I'm sitting on my bed when the doctor of the ship walks into my room. The only thing he has with him is a pair of scissors.

"Good morning, Marissa." He says to me.

"Morning." I simply said.

He proceeds to my bed and sits on it. He faces me and motions me to bring my arm out so I do. He brings forth the scissors and begins to cut my cast off. As he is doing that, I feel the coldness of the scissors and it brings back memories of the knife I used to cut myself with. I hear if you get over a kind of addiction you can relapse. Hopefully this wouldn't be the case with me.

"All done." I quickly snapped out of my thoughts.

"Thank you." I whispered.

The doctor gathered the remains of the cast and was about to leave when he turned around, "Oh Marissa, you are suppose to go to Prince Zuko's room immediately." and with that the doctor walked out of the room.

I let out a sigh and preceded to Zuko's room and when I got there I knocked on the door.

"Marissa, come right in!" It was Iroh's voice. I was beginning to wonder what I was getting myself into. I walked through the door and I saw Iroh and Zuko sitting across from each other at the table.

"Join us." Iroh said and patted a seat which was in-between Zuko and him.

As soon as I got down I flashed a smile to both of them. Iroh sent me a smile right back while Zuko crossed his arms and huffed.

"Tea?" I looked to Iroh and in his hand was a cup of tea. I take the tea and sip a bit at a time.

Iroh takes a sip of tea and lets out an 'Ah'. "I decided to have this moment of peace because I believe a moment of silence is good for mental well being, and since someone just got their cast off I think this is a good way to celebrate." I nodded my head to agree. Just then I heard a big thud and I looked to Zuko to notice that tea was all over his face. I let out a small laugh but we had to find out what caused the 'thud' and with that we went up on deck.

When we arrive on the deck I notice a huge beast with brown fur and a weird looking nose. I recognized this animal, it's the shirshu. Then I noticed a girl riding the beast. The shirshu moves the crew members out of its way.

"Get back!" The girl says "We're after a stowaway!"

"There are no stowaways on my ship!" Zuko yelled.

The girl and the shirshu thought otherwise and soon the animal ripped a piece of metal from the ship and throws it right towards the doors to the main compartments of the ship.

_Oh, great. Now Zuko is going to more pissed. _And Zuko was surely frustrated at this. From where the part of the ship was ripped a scrawny man popped out of the hole and started to run. He didn't go very far though because he only took a couple steps and then the tongue of the animal hit him and he fell to the floor.

"Is he paralyzed?" I asked shocked.

The girl that was riding the beast hopped down from it and lifted the guy up. "Only temporarily. The toxins will wear off in about a hour. But by then he'll be in jail and I'll have my money."

Zuko was still shocked from what he just saw. " But how did you find him on my ship?" He questioned the girl.

"My shirshu can smell a rat a continent away." the girl says as she mounts the animal.

"Well, I'm impressed." Iroh said as I heard the whip crack and the animal and the girl were soon off the ship. Iroh, Zuko, and I traveled the ledge of the ship to watch them disappear. "_Very impressed."_ Iroh said stroking his beard thoughtfully.

"Iroh, she is _way _out of your league I hope you know that." I said as Zuko looked at his uncle in complete disgust.

0-0-0-0

"That beast… It was incredible." Zuko said. It was just him and I in his room. We were taking the "silence was good for mental health" time but with Zuko going on about how great this beast it wasn't silent at all.

"Zuko, just quit rambling about how great this animal is. I know what you're thinking. You want to use the beast to find the avatar and you still have Katara's necklace and you're going to use that to find him aren't you?"

Zuko looked at me like he was impressed with me. "You read my mind."

0-0-0-0-0

It was night time and the moon was the brightest I have ever seen it. Zuko, Iroh, and I soon arrived at this pub. Apparently from the tracks that the shirshu left the girl was here.

We walked through the doors and what I saw were men and I was intimated because these were no scrawny men, this guys were all muscle. I quickly followed Zuko in and I could tell these guys were looking at me because of course there were no other females in this place. Zuko was pushing everyone who was in his path out of his way. "Out of my way filth!" He yelled at the one man.

Iroh who was behind me apologetically said " He means no offense! I'm sure you bathe regularly!"

We arrived at a table which the same girl who we saw earlier was arm wrestling a muscular, tan, adult guy who was having trouble while the girl wasn't even breaking a sweat. I heard chants from the people watching it yell "Go June!" so I figured June was this girl's name.

"I need to talk to you." Zuko said to June.

"Well if it isn't my new friends Angry boy, shy girl, and uncle lazy." As soon as the words left June's lips she defeated the man and the whole place erupted in cheers and soon money was being thrown at June.

"Your beast trashed my ship! You have to pay me back!" Zuko yelled.

June, who was already collection her winnings, let out a remark, "Well I would love to help you out but I'm a little short on money." She then yells to the crowd "Free drinks on me!" And the crowd cheers even louder. June proceeds to drink some of her drink but she doesn't ever get a sip because Zuko grabs her hand with anger.

"Money isn't what I had in mind."

We all go outside and Zuko shows June Katara's necklace. "I need you to find someone."

"What happened did your girlfriend run away?" June asked sarcastically.

I rolled my eyes "It's not the girl I'm after it's the bald monk she's traveling with." Zuko said.

"Whatever you say." June said un amused.

"If you find them, I'll consider the damage to my ship paid for.

June lets out a "Ha!" And starts to climb on her saddle but then Iroh speaks up.

"Plus we'll pay your weight in gold!" This stopped June and she got off her saddle and walked over to Iroh and said "Make it your weight and we got a deal." Iroh simply laughed at this. June walked over to the shirshu and to all of us she yelled "Get on!"

Iroh of course got to sit behind June. _What is it with this man and this girl?_ I got on behind him because there is no way I'm sitting on the back of this thing and Zuko got on behind me.

0-0-0-0-0

It's been a couple hours since we are traveling with June and her shirshu, Nyla. The dark night was starting to get cold and times like this I wish I was a fire bender sure I could feel some heat radiating of Iroh's and Zuko's body but it just wasn't enough. I leaned back on Zuko and the heat was just incredible. It felt like I was under my toasty blankets I had in my room. I could soon could not keep my eyes open any longer and the next thing I knew I was sleeping away. But I remember hearing one thing before I went to sleep.

"Goodnight." I heard Zuko whisper in my ear.

~Zuko's POV~

It wasn't long after Marissa feel asleep that my uncle turned around to check on us. He looked at me and then her and then back at me again. He let out a small smile and gave me a thumbs up. Then he turned back to the black haired girl in front of him to drool over her again.

~Marissa's POV~

It wasn't long until a bright light woke me up. _God how I hate the sun. _I fluttered open my eyes to see a town in the distance. I got off of Zuko and soon we were in the town. The people here as soon as they saw us ran away from us expect for one old lady. Nyla came to a stop so Zuko could get off. He holds the necklace in front of Nyla's face but Nyla snaps in return narrowly missing Zuko with her tongue.

"Hey! Watch it!" Zuko yells at the shirshu.

"Aw Zuko, she likes you." I said amused.

Zuko rolled his eyes and got back on the shirshu.

The old lady that we saw earlier was looking at Iroh when she said something to him. "Care to hear your future handsome?"

"At my age, there's really one big surprise left, and I'd just as soon leave it as a mystery." Iroh said.

As soon as Iroh said that the shirshu picked up the scent of the necklace and we were running out of the town on the path to find the avatar.

0-0-0-0

. The shirshu was getting anxious so I figured we were close to finding the avatar. Instead of being near a town we went through a small place that smelled _amazing_ but the avatar was no where to be found in there so we traveled to the forest. The forest was similar to the one I found Zuko in. Lush, green trees tower over us and peaks off the blue sky in between them. It was a very nice view. Just then I saw two figures in the distance. I squinted to my eyes and found out that there was a male and a female figure that were dressed in blue signifying water nation. Soon the shirshu was right behind them and the two figures stopped. I recognized them instantly: _Sokka and Katara._

Zuko got down from the shirshu and looked them both in the eye. "Where is he? Where is the avatar?" He questioned them.

"We split up. He's long gone." Sokka answered.

"How stupid do you think I am?" Zuko said through clenched teeth.

"Pretty stupid." Sokka said quickly. Then he grabbed his sister and yelled "Run!"

To bad running didn't get them very far. They only managed to get a couple feet when Nyla's tongue got them and they fell to the ground, paralyzed.

"So, like what are we going to do now?" I asked to Zuko.

Zuko was about to open his mouth to say something when Nyla walked over to where Katara and Sokka lay. It nose was obviously sniffing for something…but what?

"Perhaps it's seeking a different scent. Perhaps something the avatar held." June said.

The shirshu knocked a piece of paper from Sokka's pouch and it starts to sniff around, looking for the scent. Meanwhile, Zuko packed Sokka and Katara on the back of the Shirshu and now were going back to the nice smelling place to find the avatar. _Hopefully._

0-0-0

We arrived at the nice smelling place and the girls that we saw earlier began to scatter again. The animal starts to walk around in circles now like it just lost the scent.

"What is it doing? It's just going around in circles" Zuko asked angrily. Then out of the corner of my eye I spot a person flying. _Wait, did I just say a person flying? _The shirshu sees the person too and it stands up on its hind legs to try to paralyze the young boy. But of course, the shirshu misses and it takes a tumble back words and throws us all off the saddle.

Katara, who was the only one happy about that, let out "Aang!" And she was wearing the biggest smile. I could tell Zuko and I were on different pages: he was after the avatar while he doesn't know Katara and Sokka while I do. He was already fighting the avatar when I looked to Katara and Sokka who were still paralyzed. I grabbed them both by the wrist and started to drag them towards a wall where they couldn't get hurt and _Boy! Were they a pain to drag. _

I was soon at the wall and I sat them both against the wall and sat next to Sokka.

"Okay what's up with you?" Sokka said.

I scrunched my eyebrows in confusion. "What do you mean?"

"Well you're traveling with Zuko…" Katara started to say.

"And you think that makes me on his side?" I said in a monotone voice. I then let out a sarcastic laugh. "I'm just being forced to travel with him. That doesn't mean I can't look out for old friends."

Sokka looked at me and Katara's eyes were locked on Aang but then Sokka just shrugged his shoulders. We both sat there for a couple minutes before a loud explosion went off. It was Aang and Zuko fighting and they made a cloud… That strangely looked like a mushroom. It was quite awkward between us three but Sokka finally broke that silence.

"So how are we gonna defeat the weird looking creature…" Sokka questioned.

"The shirshu? The thing see's with its nose. I guess it had bad vision or something. That's how we found you guys…" Then I trailed off.

Sokka looked at me and smiled. "I got an idea." He soon got one of the ladies who worked here and asked for perfume. They were both recovering from the toxins of the shirshu. Soon huge bucket full of perfumes were being dumped on the ground. Katara, who recovered fully it seemed, started water bending the perfume. _You can waterbend perfume? I guess you learn something new everyday. _She started water bending the perfume in the air and soon the shirshu was getting all confused of what was friend or foe. Soon the shirshu hit someone who was considered a friend a friend on her side, Zuko. I face palmed myself and I looked to the two water tribe siblings'. "Go to Aang you guys. I can handle myself from here."

Sokka looked at me and said "I think if you're still alive from being on a ship with Angry boy over there I'm pretty sure you can handle yourself." Then he laughed and he was running with Katara to go with Aang and the flying bison. I looked over to were the shirshu was and then it hit another person who was it's friend, June. _Great_. June fell into Iroh's arm as I ran over to them dodging some of the tongue attacks by the shirshu of course. "Uncle, I didn't see you get hit with the tongue…" Zuko said.

I looked to Iroh and he just went "Shhh." and June glared at him. _Boy, if looks could kill. _

0-0-0-0

The three of us got back to the ship at nightfall. Iroh was the first to go to bed so Zuko and I were still awake. Instead of being in Zuko's room like we were two days ago we were just in mine and we were having the "silence is good for metal health time" together. But so many things were racing through my mind it wasn't a silent time for me. I let out a sigh and decided to talk.

"Thanks, for letting me sleep on you last night…" I said quietly.

Zuko looked at me his amber eyes looking straight into mine. "You're welcome." He said. I started to intertwine my fingers with each other. I was getting nervous.

"Zuko…" I quietly said looking at the ground.

"Yeah." He answered.

"I need help…" I could feel myself shake and my vision become blurry.

I could tell Zuko was looking at me, probably with a confused look on his face. "What do you mean you need _help._"

I let out a shaky breath. "We-Well when I got my cast off I felt something strange… The scissors felt like the knife I cut myself with. I thought this was going to be easy but its not. It's hard…" I didn't look at Zuko just straight ahead.

"I-I… I don't understand." Zuko quietly said.

"Of course…" I mumbled under my breath. "Because you never cut yourself or did something to yourself that you can easily get sucked back into… I thought I could just quit and that would done for cutting like I promised you but its not. Not even close. Ever since I quit cutting it still lurks in my head…"

"Look at me." Zuko ordered. I looked at him. "And face me."

I did what I was told. "Look, I know you've been through a lot but you're better then falling back into cutting. I make you happy right? I know this isn't exactly what you want in life but its better then sitting in prison. I'm not good with words but waterbend when you feel that urge or something, I don't know. But don't fall back into that. You know how much that scared me? Seeing a person you love harm themselves? That hurts you know." He puts one arm on my shoulder. "You self-pity yourself. You need to get over that." He then puts on a small smile and I couldn't help to smile back. "Now I need to get some sleep." He gives me a kiss on the cheek and pulls me into a quick hug. "Good night." Zuko said as he was breaking up the hug.

"Night." I said and I flashed a smile to him as he walked out of the room. One thing that stood out to me through that conversation was that he motioned that seeing a person you love harm themselves. A person you love. _Love. _That was a strange word to me. I didn't have love in my life for many years but maybe, just maybe, Zuko can be the one that can bring love back in my life.

**A/N: So guys did you like it? I think Zuko was a bit OOC at the end but I could see him saying that though sometime. Anyways, thank you AlmaLucia and hidansgirl1234 for reviewing this story. Thanks, HeroOfOlympus11,lifeismywonderland,books. , hidansgirl1234, kuroneko20, Littlesister28516,MoonStarIsle, and Alexona Veil for putting this on your story alert. Thank you, Dean's Dirty Little Secret, Alexona Veil, AtsukaCross and CheshireCat2012 for adding this to your guys favorite stories and last but no least thank you YukiTora17 for putting this on story alert! Thanks guys! =)**


	16. AUTHOR'S NOTE

**This whole chapter is just an author's note guys! I am so so sorry! I wanted this to be a chapter but I must tell you guys very important things!**

**My mom kicked me out of her house. I had the story semi-finished there and now I'm not currently talking to her and I have no idea how long this is going to last.**

**If you guys pay attention to the east coast and weather you know there is a hurricane coming called Hurricane Sandy. Hurricane Sandy is hitting where I live! (Oh god I'm so scared haha) The electricity company called us and said that we could have no power FOR A WEEK! My school has closed and last time I checked we were getting like 9 inches of rain.**

**I AM SO SORRY GUYS! **

**Next time I update this it will be a chapter! Just wanted to let you guys know what was going on. **


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